Misery

Misery is originally a novel written by Stephen King, about a writer who suffers an accident and is rescued by a fan. The writer soon has to realize that he is actually a captive, and forced to correct his mistake of killing off his heroine... The film version here was made in 1990, and is usually remembered for the award winning performance of Kathy Bates as the obsessive fan, Annie Wilkes. About what I have read of Stephen King, I often felt the urge to describe his work as "the horror of stereotypes". A sort of small town environment, with people and situations intensified to a grotesque and often supernatural level, which still remains recognisable. Sometimes they are so well written that it hurts me to read, because the fact that people can live following and make others follow a mindless pattern, as often they do, though they have the ability to do better, just annoys me. In this case, however, there is no supernatural, just plain obsession. The book was planned to be one that King wrote under the pen name Richard Bachman, which he used for these less supernatural, and more explicit writings, until the identity of Bachman was revealed. The horror is based on the entrapment of writer Paul Sheldon in a hopeless situation. In his isolation and helplessness, he must find a way to break free. King builds up new and new hopes to achieve this goal, and breaks them one after the other followed by some not too pleasant retaliation from the captor. This builds up tension and hatred up to the point where there is no choice left for either of the characters, and hell breaks loose... I find the story interesting for many reasons. First, because of the way Wilkes "loves". I think this is a far more common way people think of love as it may seem at first sight. People often love what they imagine another person to be, and not what he is. They are not afraid to cause pain in the interest of the "beloved", so that he could become the image they love. There cannot be love without the possibility of change, and perhaps loss. Misery is a nightmare of being a helpless victim to such a love. On the other hand, if anybody ever tried to create something, they will know that sometimes it goes only if one has no choice. With choice come other things to do. Of course what one creates may or may not be what he wanted or what he likes... but high impact events tend to open up new ways. There is some difference between the film and the book how the experiece influences the creative artist, and also the amount of violent love the nurse is willing to give... but still, I think has more than enough to make the point... If I had to pick a Stephen King film at this very moment, Misery would be my choice.