On the Edge
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On the Edge is a 2001 motion picture directed by John Carney (ll), which tells a story of a young man named Jonathan Breech and his stay in a psychiatric hospital. The film is set in Dublin, Ireland.
[edit] Plot
The sarcastic Jonathan Breech (Cillian Murphy) is nineteen when his father dies from a destroyed liver due to too much drinking. After a night with a gram of cocaine, another man's girlfriend and already stolen convertible car, he goes to his older brother Mikey's (Paul Hickey) house at five in the morning to get his father's ashes. With the urn in the back seat he then goes on a suicidal drive. "If you wanna kill yourself, you can't really go wrong if you drive a convertible car over a cliff at 50 miles an hour. That's a sure thing. [pause] I broke my baby finger." (Cillian Murphy, On the Edge).
After waking up in a medical hospital he is given a choice prison for the stolen car or a mental institution. "For as long as I could remember I've always wanted to spend three months as an in patient in a psychiatric hospital."(Cillian Murphy, On the Edge theatrical trailer).
Life is strange for Jonathan. His room is small and very near barren. Wednesdays are visiting days, when his brother can come. The recreation room has a TV, cards and velcro-tipped throwing darts. Since he is an inpatient he is forced to only wear p.j.'s as per the health board rules. "There really is nothing as comfortable as wearing secondhand pajamas, that previously belonged to a very short person." (Cillian Murphy, On the Edge).
To add to that he has three group therapy sessions a week with Dr. Figure (Stephen Rea). There, he meets Rachel Row (Tricia Vessey), Toby (Jonathan Jackson), Nick (Tom O'Súilleabháin) and Leslie (Marcella Plunkett). He immediately takes and shows interest in Rachel but leaves the first session extremely early. Rachel fallows him to slap him for taking such interest in her. A brief game of 'can you hit me' starts, but stops when she does and draws blood. When Jonathan goes to the restroom to take care of his bloody lip, Rachel fallows him and shows an unsettling like of blood; smearing it on to her throat and chest. Needless to say, Jonathan is more then a bit creeped out. He then befriends Toby, who seems to like Rachel as well. One on one therapy sessions with Dr. Figure are sarcastic but do introduce a pledge that patients are taking. "So, let me tell you about this pledge thing. See, Dr. Figure was a 'no medication' type of guy. And all the hard-core suicidals in his group now including myself, had agreed not to kill or hang themselves before January 1. [Chuckles] I mean, can you imagine someone dead, hangin' from the light fixture in their room, thinking, 'If my doctor finds out about this, I'm fucked'?" (Cillian Murphy, On the Edge).
His friendship with Toby really starts to form when they sneak out to a bar together. There a big man knocks in to Toby, making him drop his drink, the big man leaves to join his big friends without so much as an excuse me or I'm sorry for your beer. Like insane people Jonathan and Toby go have a little chat with them and as they get up to go Jonathan pours his beer all over the table. So the chase is on and as they run from four big men Jonathan says to Toby; "Oh, but these fellas, they're very bad at chasing." (Cillian Murphy, On the Edge).
Once they lose their very bad chasers, the two talk and Toby reveals he goes to the sessions because he killed his brother in a car accident. When Toby finds out about Jonathan cliff dive he replies; "That's brilliant. Well done. I've got to try that after my--my pledge date." (Jonathan Jackson, On the Edge).
After sneaking back to his room, Jonathan is surprised to discover Rachel there waiting for him. Rachel invites him to lie on top of her, without his shirt, and move around, so long as fluids aren't exchanged. Things aren't very interesting until Rachel pulls out a piece of glass and cuts her arm. Jonathan only notices when the blood bleeds on to him, all fun stops and this time he is truly disturbed. He leaves to go to the recreation room, and while sitting with the other crazies he decides something: "It was at that moment that I decided to keep the pledge. Don't ask me why." (Cillian Murphy, On the Edge).
Life goes on, with bowling every two weeks, friends are made and an idea to have a new years day party is introduced. Therapy sessions with Dr. Figure, flirting with Rachel and sneaking out with Toby all continue. One night out with Toby, after his hot-wired a car Jonathan learns more about Toby's past and unbalanced mental state, yet this brings them closer. It is bowling day again; Nick sucks, but Toby super sucks. He is so terrible an ugly man bowling in the next lane over tells him quit. Toby replies he is improving and calls the ugly man a wanker. Thus an argument is stated, Rachel tries to stop it, Toby appears to listen, that is until he throws his bowling ball drown the ugly man's lane and gets his first strike. Well, now it's on with the ugly man, as he breaks a glass bottle and holds it up to Toby, Jonathan steps in with a bottle of his own. "If you want to get at him, you're gonna have to go though me first. But bear with me while I try and explain something' to you. [Brakes glass bottle over his own head] Now. Now, come on. Come on. Give it to me in the fuckin' neck. Come on. Listen very carefully first before you do. Whatever you do to me, I'm gonna have enough energy to come back and get one in at you. And as sure as I'm standing here, I don't give a fuck what happens to me. You better kill me with your first shot. Cause if you don't, I'll come back and I'll take your fuckin' head off. Come on, give it to me in the fuckin' neck. Come on. Come on, you wanker!" (Cillian Murphy, On the Edge).
The fight does not actually happen and Dr. Figure has a few words with Jonathan. The group continues to bowl, Jonathan is on fire with his strikes and things are normal. Once back at the psychiatric hospital Toby reads a new poem he wrote to Rachel and they chat. Later Jonathan and Rachel chat in her room and he finds out more about Rachel. Life goes on, sessions go on, friendships deepen, flirtation goes on and party plans are made. "Rachel suggested her dad's house as a venue for our party. He’d be away so we'd have the run of the place. And by giving out the address to the day patients, news of the party was spreading like wildfire." (Cillian Murphy, On the Edge).
At the New Year's Eve party Toby and Jonathan chat, Nick and Leslie dance, as well as Jonathan and Rachel. Toby watches them dance and Rachel smiles at him before he turns to leave. Later Jonathan and Rachel are seen going upstairs. In another part of the house Toby is opening up the garage. Jonathan tries to kiss Rachel but she won't kiss back. As the count down to the New Year begins Rachel tarts to kiss back and Toby get ready in the car to be done with his pledge. At the stroke of midnight Toby drives off a cliff, just as he said he would. "You can never really know what was going through a person's mind at that exact moment. If they survive, they'll never tell you. If they succeed, all you can do is spend the rest of your life guilty because it might have had something to do with you. You're only concern can be for the people they leave behind. They’re the ones to look out for." (Cillian Murphy, On the Edge).
Toby is dead, Rachel's time is up, Jonathan is miserable and worried about her. In a therapy session he asks Dr. Figure what will happen to Rachel. The doctor replies: "What's gonna happen to you? I can only help people who are really sick. And then half the time it doesn't work. Who's gonna help you?" (Stephen Rea, On the Edge).
When Jonathan finally snaps and steals a bike to get out of the hospital, Dr. Figure allows him to leave. Jonathan goes to Rachel's dad's house, to the cliffs. He finds her there, look over the edge. "If it's a matter of life and death between people like you and me, then I want to outlive you. And I want to see what happens to you. 'Cause I like ya." Cillian Murphy, On the Edge).
They make their own pledge to try to be together for a year. Jonathan reveals that he loves her and they leave the cliff to go have ice cream. While waiting for the ice cream Rachel begins to cry and Jonathan sooths her as they go for a long walk.
[edit] Cast
- Cillian Murphy – Jonathan Breech
- Tricia Vessey – Rachel Row
- Jonathan Jackson – Toby
- Stephen Rea – Dr. Figure
- Paul Hickey - Mikey
- Tom O'Súilleabháin – Nick
- Marcella Plunkett – Leslie
