Mozart and the Whale
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| Mozart and the Whale | |
|---|---|
 Promotional movie poster for the film |
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| Directed by | Petter Næss |
| Produced by | Danny Dimbort Manfred D. Heid Gerd Koechlin Josef Lautenschlager Avi Lerner Trevor Short Andreas Thiesmeyer |
| Written by | Ronald Bass |
| Starring | Josh Hartnett Radha Mitchell Erica Leerhsen |
| Music by | Deborah Lurie |
| Cinematography | Svein Krøvel |
| Editing by | Lisa Zeno Churgin Miklos Wright |
| Distributed by | Millennium Films |
| Release date(s) |  September 10, 2005 (DVD premiere) April 14, 2006 (limited) February 24, 2007 |
| Running time | 92 min. |
| Country | U.S.A. |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $12,000,000 (estimate) |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Mozart and the Whale is a 2005 feature-length motion picture starring Josh Hartnett and Radha Mitchell, and directed by Petter Næss.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
The film tells the story of two people with Asperger's Syndrome (a form of autism). Donald (Josh Hartnett) runs a small self-help group for people on the autistic spectrum who are more affected by their autism than he is. Isabelle (Radha Mitchell) is referred to the group by her therapist. Mozart and the Whale is a fictional account, using characters loosely based on the real-life relationship of Jerry Newport and Mary Meinel (now Mary Newport).
[edit] Cast
- Josh Hartnett as Donald Morton
- Radha Mitchell as Isabelle Sorenson
- Gary Cole as Wallace
- Allen Evangelista as Skeets
- Sheila Kelley as Janice
- Erica Leerhsen as Bronwin
- John Carroll Lynch as Gregory
[edit] Production
The screenplay was written by Ron Bass, who also wrote Rain Man, a movie about an individual with autism. Bass is said to have been inspired by a 1995 article in the Los Angeles Times.
The film was previously a DreamWorks vehicle and was to have been directed by Steven Spielberg with Robin Williams and Tea Leoni as stars. But other work commitments meant that Spielberg could not film it in the available time slots.
Parts of this film were shot on the campus of Gonzaga University, and C.A.T.T.A.L.E.S., a large-cat preserve [1], in Spokane, Washington.
[edit] Distribution
The film struggled to find a theatrical distributor in the USA. The major reason for this was a lack of public support by prominent cast members who did not like the final version. The studio tried to distribute it in the USA in April of 2004 but it did not go farther than a month in Spokane, Washington, where the film was made. The film is available on DVD in a number of countries and became available in the USA in that form on December 12, 2006.
[edit] Reception
This film has been lauded by many in the autistic community for its realistic portrayal of life on the autistic spectrum.[citation needed]
Unlike many fictional books and films on the subject, Mozart and the Whale gives a more accurate rendering of autism as a "spectrum" condition, in which individuals have different levels of functioning, as well as different interests, strengths and weaknesses.
This is different from many other portrayals of autism, such as the movie Rain Man and the book The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, both of which focus on one character and give the character more autistic traits than are normally seen in one individual. This leads to the notion that autistic conditions are more uniform than they are.
It is also notable that the movie portrays autistics functioning in society. Autistic characters in the movie hold jobs and live on their own. For example, the characters Greg, Donald and Isabelle all live in their own apartments and homes.
Due to its realistic and positive portrayal of Asperger Syndrome and other autism spectrum conditions, this movie has been frequently screened at autistic conferences and support group meetings for those on the spectrum.
