Mental health, television and cinema have a complicated relationship. Often reduced to the tropes of violent men and hysterical women, representation has historically been pretty quite problematic.
This is changing, however, and Amazon’s new series Modern Love is receiving praise for doing its part in portraying authentic stories of people living with mental health conditions.
In the third episode of the series, we see Anne Hathaway portray a bipolar woman and the complexities of that. Her character, Lexi, is a New York attorney whose diagnosis impacts her dating life.
Speaking with Glamour magazine, Anne Hathaway shared that she hopes audiences can connect with her character’s story because it’s not an uncommon one:
“I have people in my life who I love so deeply who have received various mental health diagnoses, and that’s not the whole story of who they are,” she told the mag.
“But in many cases, because of an intolerant society, that’s the space of fear they’re kept in.
“It’s my hope that people watch that scene and realize we all feel that way at times.
“We all walk around sometimes feeling like we have an elephant on our chest, but we’re not alone. And we’re not less than because of that. We’re not unlovable because of that.”
The Oscar-winning actress has taken the opportunity many times while promoting the series to speak openly about the importance of honestly representing mental illness. In an interview with Variety, she said:
“We’re all becoming more sensitive, wiser and more cognizant of gentility, and especially emotional gentility. I think those conversations are starting to happen. And I think the desire is there, which is a huge part.
“We’re not talking about it, not because of a place of shame, but because we don’t know how to start.”
Anne Hathaway continued:
“Every single person I’ve talked to has said that they know someone with bipolar disorder. And this episode is going to mean so much because it offers some form of representation.”
Lexi’s story was inspired by the writings of Terri Cheney in her New York Times Modern Love column ‘Take Me As I Am, Whoever I Am‘.