‘This is just a formality, Don Birnham is dead already…’
There are many films about drug addiction. Ranging from the incredibly upsetting (Requiem for a Dream) to the giddily exciting (Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas) and everything in between (Trainspotting). Films about alcoholism are few and far between. There are many films that feature alcoholics (Leaving Las Vegas, A Star is Born, Doctor Sleep etc), and many films that use alcohol to indicate that things are falling apart for our brave protagonist, but alcohol is often used as a plot device rather than the main event. The Lost Weekend is a film about alcoholism and addiction. In that respect, it brings to mind The Iceman Cometh and Trees Lounge in its ability to embrace debauchery…
Don Birnham (Ray Milland) is a struggling writer with a chronic drink problem (sounds worryingly familiar…). The Lost Weekend follows his increasingly desperate endeavours across a four-day drinking binge.
From the mind of master director Billy Wilder and based on Charles R. Jackson’s novel (adapted for the screen by Wilder and Charles Brackett), The Lost Weekend perfectly captures the feeling of a life spinning out of control. The moment that Don decides not to go away with his brother and sister-in-law, it is clear that the path he has chosen is only leading to one place. Oblivion. Beautiful oblivion. Milland, who only recently impressed me so much in Dial M for Murder, is wonderful again here. It’s tough to convincingly play a drunk, but he successfully captures all facets of a heavy drinker. The giddy enthusiasm, the inevitable slump, the biting self-hatred. Milland has it all – and he was rewarded with a Best Actor Oscar for his troubles.
Wilder used The Lost Weekend as a way to send a message to his friend Raymond Chandler, the writer of Double Indemnity and a man with a severe drink problem of his own. As a result of this, it is clear that this project is imbued with personal meaning for Wilder, in turn making this one of his most affecting films.
Alcoholism is a delicate subject that makes people feel uncomfortable as it is a little too close to home for some. It’s easy to dismiss the travails of Mark Renton and Raoul Duke as distant fantasies of men on the outside of society but, in reality, drunkenness is much more tangible and much more real than mere fiction, and as a result, The Lost Weekend still has the ability to shock all these years later.
Another Wilder masterpiece.