Review: Infinitely Polar Bear

Infinitely Polar Bear, writer-director Maya Forbes' feature debut, draws on her childhood experience of living with her bipolar father while her mother worked on her graduate degree. As with its title, a child's cutesy riff on bipolarity, the film quirks up the darker aspects of mental illness which, when coupled with the episodic narrative, results in a mildly affecting film.

Forbes begins the tale with Super 8 home movie footage of Cam Stuart (Mark Ruffalo) as his oldest daughter Amelia (Imogen Wolarsky, Forbes' real-life daughter) reveals via voiceover that her father had already been diagnosed as a manic-depressive in 1967, a fact he freely shares with future wife Maggie (Zoe Saldana) on their first date. She's unperturbed by the reveal - it's the Sixties, who wasn't having a nervous breakdown? Ten years later, they're married with two children, Amelia and Faith (Ashley Aufderheide), but neither marriage nor fatherhood have stabilised Cam's condition.

Losing his job triggers an episode as, instead of taking the girls to school, he rallies them to walk through the woods near their Cambridge, Massachusetts country home. An exasperated Maggie - who knows how many such episodes she has had to endure over the years - packs up the kids. They're prevented from leaving, however, by a Speedo-clad Cam, who launches into a fit as Maggie and the girls cower in the locked car. Some time passes and Maggie and the girls remain inside the car as they gaze out at Cam, who is silent and sitting in the cold. Next time we see Cam, it is at the end of a stint in the institution. Heavily sedated, he can manage no more than shuffled steps and slurred speech but he's determined to become a functional human being again.

Maggie, in the meantime, is resolved to get the best education possible for her daughters, who are currently being unchallenged in their public school. She is confident she can earn a degree in 18 months and use that degree to secure a job that will pay enough for her to send Amelia and Faith to the best private school in the district. The only catch is she needs Cam to take care of the girls while she's away in New York. He can move into her home and she'll come back to Cambridge on the weekends. "Is this something to do with feminism?" Cam's blue-blooded father (Keir Dullea) asks when he hears the plan. No, his African-American daughter-in-law replies, it has to do with desperation and being on the poverty line.

Predictably, Cam is not exactly up to the task. He thinks nothing of leaving the girls home alone at night while he goes to the bars or letting the dishes go unwashed or littering the apartment with his half-finished projects. It's never in doubt that Cam loves the girls, but exactly how long can he handle this responsibility without suffering another breakdown or endangering the girls?

Truth is often stranger than fiction but there is a reason that dramatic license exists when translating real-life events onto the screen. Plausibility issues aside, there is something about Infinitely Polar Bear that refuses to come to life despite the strong performances of Ruffalo and Saldana. It may be that it adheres too much to the relatively uncomplicated perspective of a child when the more adult complexities - Cam and Maggie's heart-to-hearts about their situation as well as the racist, feminist and economic bias Maggie faces - are a far more intriguing watch.

The romantic interludes between Cam and Maggie also remind viewers what a deeply sexy man Ruffalo is. Ruffalo resembles a teddy bear - he is designed to be hugged - but he often exudes a dangerous physicality when romantically inclined (see In the Cut, Thanks for Sharing, even the sweet-natured 13 Going on 30) and it's a trait that should be showcased more often.

Unfortunately, Ruffalo's heartfelt portrayal and Saldana's skillful mix of personal grit, maternal selflessness, and bittersweet love are lost amidst the insubstantial series of seriocomic vignettes that comprise the film.

Infinitely Polar Bear

Directed by: Maya Forbes

Written by: Maya Forbes

Starring: Mark Ruffalo, Zoe Saldana, Imogen Wolarsky, Audrey Aufderheide, Keir Dullea, Muriel Gould