MovieChat Forums > The Lost Weekend Discussion > Does it REALLY get this bad??

Does it REALLY get this bad??

posted 14 years ago by learyblaine
33 replies | jump to latest

I've known only one honest-to-god alcoholic, and even he (from what I saw) wasn't as bad as what's depicted here. Does it really get like this?

I found the movie to be amazing ... not just "for it's time", but for any time. I watch a lot of movies, and I don't recall addiction being depicted this starkly and, well, nakedly. Scary stuff.

What an achievement for Milland! He exhibited every different aspect of the character -- the Ivy Leaguer, the writer, the gentleman, the addict, the charmer, the thief. And each was portrayed vividly and thoroughly.

Yeah, the ending was too easy. But that's probably the thing that's most indicative of the era in which it was made.

[–] ck1-5 14 years ago

All I know is that it did get that bad for my late uncle (he managed to drink himself to death in his mid 40s), complete with hallucinations of scary animals attacking him.

[–] out-of-towner 14 years ago

Apparently it does get that bad. The dictionary defines delirium tremens or "the DT's" as "a psychotic condition typical of withdrawal in chronic alcoholics, involving tremors, hallucinations, anxiety, and disorientation." I think i'll stick to drinking diet Pepsi.

I think it's safe to say that after 66 years The Lost Weekend has lost a bit of it's impact, but I imagine it was quit shocking back in 1945, and it's still a great film today. Of course almost any film written and directed by Billy Wilder is excellent.

[–] Gus-69 14 years ago

I don't think your "friend" was much of an alcoholic if he said that...

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[–] knight_sentinel 14 years ago

I had to pick up a woman who missed her court appearance many years ago, she had used the company I was working for one summer to post her bond on a drunk driving charge and missed her court date. She stated she started drinking on a Wednesday or Thursday, her court appearance was the following Monday, I found her on the Tuesday after her she missed her court date and she only remembered that she had gone into a liquor store on the day she started drinking.

I don't drink alcohol much if at all, but I dated a young woman when i was in my late 20s and she was a black out drunk, and I had a friend and she was also a black out drunk, the VP for company I was doing some contracting work for years ago told me he was a black out drunk, he actually caused a multiple car accident and he stated he remembered going into the bar, and then waking up in the hospital.

they all stated they could only remember when they first started drinking, and then they wouldn't remember anything until the time they sobered up. The woman I was dating would actually call me, and ask if I had seen her like the night before, we broke up because she didn't want help,

It's seems like it must be that bad, it's kind of scary, They really don't know what they do when they're drunk, and they will lie just like any other substance abuse user to get money for alcohol.

Mr. Milland was very good in this film.

Movies will make you famous; Television will make you rich; But theatre will make you good.

[–] sth78 13 years ago

It can certainly be worse in real life, but what happens to Don in this movie is not entirely realistic.

I am, of course, referring to the mouse & bat scene. It is supposed to be a scene of delirium tremens, the most vile effect of alcohol abuse. The problem is that it is a withdrawal symptom, and never occurs while the person is still intoxicated, as it happens to Don here.

Delirium tremens manifests after heavy drinking for a long period of time (not only 4 days, as in this movie), which is abruptly terminated. It makes the alcohol levels fade fast, and since the brain can't keep up with the sobriety, it manufactures images and impressions that the person perceives as real. But this does not set in until 18-96 hours after the last drink.

Having the DTs while still drunk is not possible. I think the movie just added that because they would not let the first movie about alcoholism ever be without a scene of DTs.

[–] RobbieCalifornia 13 years ago

Of course it really gets this bad!

[–] sth78 13 years ago

Yes and no.

It does not get this bad after 4 days of drinking, which is what happens to Don in the movie. I am in particular referring to the hallucination scene. If it was the 2nd or 3rd day of a withdrawal after a 14-day bender, then it would most likely be like this.

The movie is very realistic in almost every respect. But not in regards of the 4 day span. It is simply too short a period to experience such vile reactions.

[–] smackfireout 13 years ago

It can certainly be worse in real life, but what happens to Don in this movie is not entirely realistic.

I am, of course, referring to the mouse & bat scene. It is supposed to be a scene of delirium tremens, the most vile effect of alcohol abuse. The problem is that it is a withdrawal symptom, and never occurs while the person is still intoxicated, as it happens to Don here.

Delirium tremens manifests after heavy drinking for a long period of time (not only 4 days, as in this movie), which is abruptly terminated. It makes the alcohol levels fade fast, and since the brain can't keep up with the sobriety, it manufactures images and impressions that the person perceives as real. But this does not set in until 18-96 hours after the last drink.

Having the DTs while still drunk is not possible. I think the movie just added that because they would not let the first movie about alcoholism ever be without a scene of DTs.

you can't get full-blown delirium tremens whilst still technically intoxicated (i.e. in the first 12-48 hours after a binge) but you can get alcoholic hallucinosis, which is effectively DTs-lite. visually you get hallucinations of a very similar nature, but whereas in DTs you do genuinely believe what you're seeing is real, in alcoholic hallucinosis you know it's a product of your mind but are nevertheless unable to stop being made extremely anxious by it. it can also be accompanied by slight tremors, which are nowhere near as severe as full DTs but are fully palpable and troubling nevertheless. unlike DTs, alcoholic hallucinosis doesnt require medical attention and the only way to get rid of it is either to resume drinking (and very probably have the same symptoms at the end of that binge) or to continue not drinking.

because DTs and alcoholic hallucinosis are so similar both to the person experiencing them and - more importantly - to the person observing the person experiencing them, they're often just lumped together, as i guess they were in the film.

[–] sth78 13 years ago

True, but alcohol hallucinosis is most often auditory (e.g. music playing, voices talking etc.). It can be visual, too, but the main difference is that you know all the time that it is just in your head. Don Birnam obviously thinks the mouse and bat are both real.

[–] smackfireout 13 years ago

true...but to accept the scene as a compromise between depicting one or the other i think is fair and not particularly misleading.

[–] CasseroleWorshipper 13 years ago

My dad's what one could call an alcoholic and he's been to the emergency room multiple times because of his pancreas and he has seriously mentally deteriorated over the last 10 years, to the point of showing signs of serious psychosis.
I don't mean to impose, but I am the Ocean.

[–] david-renaker5 13 years ago

History's highest-achieving alcoholic and exhibiting-worst-symptoms is Dylan Thomas, the poet who wrote "do not go gentle into that good night."He took his own advice and did not go gentle. He vomited at the funeral of his father to whom the great poem was written. He died after drinking 17 straight whiskeys. "And you, my father, there on the sad height---Bless, curse me now with your fierce tears, I pray." Accurate but almost unbelievable account of him by John Malcolm Brinnin, Dylan Thomas in America.

[–] lengossard-331-921446 13 years ago

Not only does it get this bad, it is in most cases, much worse. This well an extremely well thought out and depicted look at what many alcoholics suffer through, sometimes even on a daily basis. It's an excellent movie on a subject that is still sorely misunderstood, even by some in the medical community and within our society.