The Year Between [Nashville Film Festival Review]

by Mike McGranaghan

A personal pet peeve is movies that use mental illness as a “quirky” personality trait for their central characters. Aside from minimizing the experiences of people who have mental illness for real, those films often have extremely unrealistic portrayals of the diagnoses at the center of their stories. The Year Between deftly avoids all that. This is one of the most authentic depictions of bipolar disorder I've seen. Of course, bipolar can look different for different individuals, but I know people exactly like the young woman at the heart of this tale – people who veer more toward the manic side and therefore find their personal relationships strained because of the unpredictability of their behavior.

Alex Heller, who also wrote and directed, plays Clemence Miller. She's had to take a leave of absence from college, due to erratic actions that have unnerved her roommate. Now she lives in the basement of her family home, where she clashes with siblings Neil (Wyatt Oleff) and Carlin (Emily Robinson), and confounds parents Sherri (J. Smith-Cameron) and Don (Steve Buscemi). After being formally diagnosed with bipolar, Clemence begins taking meds and seeing a therapist. She even gets a job working at a store, where she tenuously befriends coworker Beth (Kyanna Simone). Things seem poised to improve.

The manic side is hard to get out from under, though. At times, Clemence chooses to skip doses of her meds. She acts impulsively, even going to a party and getting drunk. She lashes out when her family members don't understand her feelings or hold her accountable for stuff she says/does. The Year Between is very truthful in showing the struggle of attempting to get a mental illness under control. It's a process, sometimes a long one, that entails not just popping a pill and talking to a therapist, but also understanding one's diagnosis and figuring out a new way to live.

Have I made the movie sound too serious? The Year Between is actually quite funny, using comedy to help the weight of the subject go down easier. Heller is a riot as Clemence, dropping sarcastic one-liners and making the character's occasionally abrasive behavior comical. She isn't making light of mental illness, she's depicting how untreated bipolar has turned the character into her own worst enemy. Many of the predicaments she finds herself in are humorous, too, especially an awkward encounter with an old classmate who attempts to woo her in his parents basement, in some of the most cringe-worthy ways imaginable.

With impressive performances from Heller and the fantastic supporting cast, The Year Between is a movie that will crack viewers up at the same time that it will help them learn a little bit about bipolar. This seems like an appropriate time to mention that the story is based on Heller's own experience. Having a personal touch makes all the difference. You can feel the honesty coming off the screen. She's made a special film.

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