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Originally Posted by BethRags
Hi Soupe!
Whew. I slogged my way through Silver Linings Playbook. Didn't care for that one. Way too much relentless hostility, and I have the feeling that someone pulled the term "bipolar disorder" out of a hat, without knowing the first thing about what the diagnosis means.
Mr. Jones was definitely the outstanding of the two. This is interesting, from Wikipedia:
To prepare for the film, Richard Gere, Mike Figgis and Eric Roth did a tremendous amount of research and studying on bipolar disorder. Gere met with several people who have the disorder to gain insight and knowledge on what to accurately portray.
Thanks again for the terrific recommendations 
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Thanks for sharing about their research. It definitely was apparent.
It was predictable that more people would prefer Silver Linings Play Book, for the usual reasons. It even had higher praise by viewers than Mr. Jones. But Roger Ebert clearly recognized the accomplishment of the Mr. Jones portrayal of a person with bipolar, giving it a thumbs up and a much higher rating/praise than viewers did.
The other day, for fun, I was watching YouTube videos about musicians and actors who perform incognito in public. In one case, a woman discovered that after she had given a homeless man some pizza, that that man was Richard Gere, researching for his part in a movie called "Time Out of Mind", which played a few years ago. Some say that ended up being one of Gere's finest performances. One article describes this a bit. I am now planning on renting that movie.
‘I’m nobody. I don’t exist’: Richard Gere cast adrift for homeless film | Richard Gere | The Guardian
In my opinion, Bradley Cooper did a much better job playing a man with a mental illness in "A Star is Born" than he did in Silver Linings. Though the "Star is Born" character had depression and other issues (addiction), not bipolar disorder. Richard Gere definitely gets more credit, in my book, for the bipolar portrayal. Maybe I just prefer bipolar portrayals be less comedic with less cheesy romance. I thought the illicit love in Mr. Jones wasn't necessary, but at least it did bring up the topic of countertransference love being taboo.