DIRTY FILTHY LOVE (2004 British TV movie…now available in DVD rental) 3.0*** I know what you thinking but you’re wrong. This movie is neither dirty nor filthy.. It is however about love…love lost and the hope of love again. It is mostly about the sometimes terrible affliction of Tourettes Syndrome which is a brain disorder that causes involuntary uncontrollable “tics”…. sudden, rapid, repeated movements or voice sounds/outbursts and can include: arm thrusting, eye blinking, head twitching, shoulder shrugging, repeated throat clearing or sniffing, and when vocalized can include crude curse words or other inappropriate words or phrases. Tics may occur many times a day but often intensify in degree and frequency due to stress or high emotions. It sometimes occurs in combination with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD).
The main character in this movie is Mark who is on the downward slide of what once was a happy life. He has just lost his job as a successful architect and is in the process of losing his lovely wife to divorce. The movie doesn’t reveal what precipitated the fall from well being. The decline is sad and depressing although some comedy is mixed in for relief..but to walk in his shoes is to see through his eyes the shock and, at times, disgust of other reacting to his behavior, and how horrible that can be
Mark twitches his head, makes facial grimaces, flails his arms, barks like a dog, and shouts out profanities or insults ..that’s for starters. His OCD manifest itself in that he can’t go up more than four stairs without going back down one and the rituals of how he sits down and gets out of bed. Mark is marvelously played by the British actor, Michael Sheen (The Queen and Frost/Nixon) and he is supported by a wonderful British cast. Sheen gives a tour de force performance, accurate in showing what Tourettes and OCD look like without going overboard or hamming it up. Sheen’s focus and attention to detail in portraying the affliction is masterful.

There is one scene that captures the awfulness of Tourettes very simply but quite effectively…one morning we see Mark with his face all lathered up with shaving cream and his hand poised with the razor, and there is the suspense and dread as you hold your breath to see if he can smoothly shave his face or whether his hand or arm will jerk at just the wrong moment and he cuts himself.

As hard as it is to watch, there is a glimmer of hope that comes forth to encourage you…that being that sometimes an ugly duckling can find happiness with another ugly duckling !?!

You may have to look hard to find Dirty Filthy Love on the video shelf, but this is an affecting film that deserves to be discovered.
Clark