Silver Linings Playbook Character Analysis

The characters of many popular movies tend to have various mental and physical illnesses, but they are often romanticized and not portrayed correctly. In Silver Linings Playbook, both of the main characters have a mental illness and they are displayed fairly accurately. However, it is slightly romanticized and leaves the viewer with the impression that everything is okay after a kiss and that together, the main characters will both be much better with their illnesses.
Silver Linings Playbook is about a man named Pat Solitano who has just returned from an eight month stint in a mental hospital and has been diagnosed with Bipolar disorder. He was required by law to be treated in the mental hospital because he had previously almost beaten a man to death after discovering he had an affair with his wife, Nikki. Pat is determined to become a better version of himself for Nikki, who

Pat is diagnosed with Bipolar disorder while Tiffany has depression. Based on the movie, Pat’s disorder makes it hard for him to connect with and understand people. He has very poor social skills and is often referred to as having “no filter”. Pat also displays angry and violent tendencies when he gets frustrated or upset. An example of this is when he has trouble finding his wedding video and he wakes his parents up at two in the morning, accusing them of hiding it from him. The other main character, Tiffany is portrayed as bitter, mean, and sarcastic and also has some trouble communicating effectively with people. She is often very upfront in many scenes and can be described as having a “sick sense of humor”. An example of this is when she begins to proclaim that Pat is harassing her on Halloween night and when the police get involved, she claims that it was a joke. Tiffany also seems to be unempathetic and doesn’t allow people to explain a situation if she doesn’t understand it