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BLUE/ORANGE
Howard Davies, UK, 2005
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The struggle for power is at the heart of this dynamic and often very funny film adaptation of a play about a young mental patient and the doctors treating him. Featuring three strong performances and a script which is continually challenging and engaging, Blue/Orange looks at serious issues without being dour or simplistic.
Chris (Shaun Parkes) has been diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder following a psychotic episode. After 28 days in the care of young registrar Dr Bruce Flaherty (John Simm) he is due to be released, but Bruce fears that his patient's belief that his father is Idi Amin, and the fact that he insists that oranges are blue, are warning signs of schizophrenia. If Chris is released into the community he could well suffer a terrible breakdown. The scene is set for a struggle with senior consultant Dr Robert Smith (Brian Cox), who sees Chris as ready to leave.
Blue/Orange keeps you guessing because our perception of the characters, and their relationship to each other, is always shifting. Is Chris seriously ill, or is he being misdiagnosed by an uptight doctor? Is Flaherty idealistic and committed or more than a little neurotic himself? Does Smith combine assurance with common sense or is he an arrogant careerist?
The assumptions people make in this play are hugely important and the title itself is a perfect encapsulation of the issues, conjuring up colour, language and perception. That Chris sees blue when he looks at the orange may be a hallucination, or could be his attempt to express something about how he sees the world; after all he sees the skinheads who taunt him with racist abuse as "zombies". As the doctors argue about whether or not it is racist to take Chris' blackness into account in his treatment it's not clear who is really seeing what is there.
Howard Davies' film is energetic and accomplished, and never betrays its theatrical origins, other than in the unusual strength of the script. A compelling drama that says something about contemporary Britain.
Albert Foss
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Joe Penhall wrote the scripts for recent adaptations of The Long Firm and Enduring Love.
