Hidden Beauty: How To Cope With The Loss Of A Loved One
Hidden Beauty, Collateral Beauty in English, is a 2016 North American film directed by David Frankel. This film was highly anticipated and brought together actors such as Edward Norton, Kate Winslet, Hellen Mirren, Will Smith or Keira Knightley. However, despite the expectations and the interpretive quality of its actors, the reviews were, in general, negative.
From a cinematographic point of view, the film falls into melodrama and tearfulness. There is an overdose of dialogues and sentences that seek emotion but are only superficial. Hidden Beauty tells us about an interesting theme but falls into a forced sentimentalism that is not credible. Too Hollywood sentimentalism . The fact that it’s set in New York City around Christmas time doesn’t help either: the movie becomes something of a Christmas TV movie for the whole family.
The subject is interesting. We note the very clear influence of Charles Dickens with his Christmas Tale. The story is about a man who, after the tragic death of his 6-year-old daughter, finds himself in a deep depression. His colleagues and friends try to help him and hire three actors to represent three abstract concepts: Love, Death and Time. In short, it is an allegory of life and an exposition of the main fears we face. The film also brings us closer to a very common problem in our society: depression.
If we put aside the watered down aspect of the film, the lack of naturalness that stands out from the start as well as the extremely predictable plot, we must nevertheless admit that Hidden Beauty transforms a tragic situation into a sort of fable or tale. . In this article, we’re not going to focus on the cinematic side of the movie. Rather, we will deal with the subject itself and the lessons we can learn from it. While not forgetting its link with psychology.
Loss in Hidden Beauty
The film opens with a motivational speech delivered by the character of Will Smith. Howard Inlet is a very successful advertising boss. In his speech, he says that three essential things connect all human beings: love, time and death. “We want to find love, we want more time and we are afraid of death”. A few moments later, we witness a very different present. Howard has indeed lost his six-year-old daughter. Following this event, he no longer feels joy for anything, whether for his work, his friends or his life. Howard doesn’t speak anymore, shows no interest in anything, and is still on the verge of crying.
This death, in addition to plunging him into a depression that prevents him from moving forward, prompted him to separate from his wife. This is what happens for the majority of couples after the loss of a child. The reasons that lead a couple to separate after such an event can be very diverse. It is very common that many conflicts arise: one of the members can “better” manage the situation, the two can mutually blame each other for this death, one may not be able to overcome this ordeal…
The grieving process is difficult for everyone. Especially if it is the death of a child. For some people, this bereavement will resolve itself over time and naturally. Various phases will be passed through until the situation is accepted. However, other people may find themselves stuck and unable to move forward. This fact will eventually lead to trouble. Howard, for example, suffers from a deep depression combined with a state of negation that prevents him from speaking about the subject and relating to others.
His friends and colleagues are concerned about his emotional situation. Accepting that someone you love and have always seen full of life is in a state of depression and unable to move forward is not easy. Despite everything, they still decide to help him. They are also motivated by the situation of the company which directly affects them. For this, they hire a detective who discovers that Howard is writing letters to Love, Death and Time. These are the concepts he treated in a positive tone at the start of the film.
Seeing this, they decide to hire three actors to embody these concepts. In this way, they will demonstrate that his sanity does not allow him to work and Howard will be able to realize the situation in which he is immersed.
The Christmas context of the film is also important. This is a date when emotions are on edge. It is also a good time for reflection. The ghosts of the past appear as in Dickens’ work and the memories of those who have passed away reappear.
Allegories and the meaning of death
Howard’s friends also experience special mourning and a personal struggle. They see their work in danger when it is the only thing they have left. Whit just got divorced and his daughter hates him; in a way, he also lost someone important in his life. Claire has dedicated her entire life to work; she has never started a family and she is afraid of growing old. Simon discovers that he has an illness that will eventually kill him; he has just been a father and does not want to reveal this fact to his family.
The actors who play the allegorical characters (love, time and death) will deeply connect to their role. Death will be extremely tied to Simon and help him come to terms with his fate; Love will do the same with Whit, who will try to get closer to her daughter; Time, meanwhile, will help Claire to think. These three stories will blend into Howard’s fabric and his path to acceptance. The latter will be supplemented by group therapy alongside people in the same situation as him.
Death is what awaits all human beings. It doesn’t matter who you are or what you do: in the end, we’re all going to die. A painting by Juan de Valdés Leal, Finis gloriae mundi, illustrates this idea very well. It is about a work in which the painter represented various bodies in decomposition; the bishop’s luxurious coffin contrasts with those much poorer that can be found at the bottom of the work, while a divine hand holds a scale, in reference to the judgment of souls.
Thus, Hidden Beauty presents us with a successful man who has to face the death of his daughter. That way, from the get-go, the film reminds us that death looms over us all. Will Smith himself discovered during filming that his father was going to die soon. Once again, death can present itself at any time.
The protagonist of Hidden Beauty cannot accept that his daughter died before him, without having had time to live. However, as the film tells us, time is nothing more than a perception. Even though we can measure it, we ourselves decide what to do with it. On the other hand, love represents this force present in everything around us, even in pain. This is the collateral beauty that the film invites us to seek and discover.
Our thoughts We have all gone through a grieving process at some point. A series of stages which occur one after the other and which allow us …
