Infinitely Polar Bear (2014)

A father struggling with bipolar disorder tries to win back his wife by attempting to take full responsibility of their two young, spirited daughters, who don't make the overwhelming task any easier.

Director:

Maya Forbes

Writer:

Maya Forbes

Stars:

Mark Ruffalo, Zoe Saldana, Imogene Wolodarsky

Nominated for 1 Golden Globe. Another 3 wins & 8 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Mark Ruffalo	...	Cam Stuart
Zoe Saldana	...	Maggie Stuart
Imogene Wolodarsky	...	Amelia Stuart
Ashley Aufderheide	...	Faith Stuart
Nekhebet Kum Juch	...	Kim
Manoah Angelo	...	Thurgood
Muriel Gould	...	Gaga
Tod Randolph	...	Ruth-Ann
Beth Dixon	...	Pauline Stuart
Keir Dullea	...	Murray Stuart
Georgia Lyman	...	Becca
Paul Elias	...	Dick
Chris Papavasiliou	...	Mr. Fabrini
Patrick Shea	...	Business Man 1
Liam McNeill	...	Young Man 1

Storyline

In the late 1970s, in Boston, the bipolar Cameron "Cam" Stuart lives with his wife Maggie and their daughters Amelia and Faith in an isolated house in the countryside. When Cam is fired from his job, he has a mental breakdown and Maggie is forced to institutionalize him. When he is released, he moves to a small apartment while Maggie works to support the children. She decides to apply to an MBA program to improve her income and she is accepted by Columbia University in New York. She asks Cam to take care of the girls for eighteen months and he agrees despite his fears. Maggie moves to New York and Cam is responsible for Amelia and Faith's education. Will the scheme work?

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Plot Keywords:

crepe | machete | columbia university | rent controlled apartment | lithium | 

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Taglines:

What it takes to keep a family together

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

19 June 2015 (USA)

Also Known As:

Amor Polar

Filming Locations:

Providence, Rhode Island, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$6,700,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$47,000, 21 June 2015

Gross USA:

$1,430,655

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$1,824,678

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paper Street Films, Bad Robot, KGB Media

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Based on Maya Forbes' childhood with her sister. Her sister China sings the song "The Northern Line" over the end credits.

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Goofs

At the 00:09:43 mark, there is a scene with Cam and Maggie in the kitchen. Cam is in the process of making crepes that go from unfolded to folded and back to unfolded again.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Amelia Stuart: [narrating] My father was diagnosed manic depressive in 1967. He'd been going around Cambridge in a fake beard calling himself Jesus John Harvard. When he got better, he started working in public television in Boston. He met my mother there. He walked up and took her picture. On their first date, he took her on a driving tour of New England and told her all about his nervous breakdowns. She didn't care. She said it was a crazy time. Half the people they knew were going bananas. So ...

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Connections

Referenced in The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon: Mark Ruffalo/Kendrick Lamar (2016)

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Soundtracks

The Oogum Boogum Song
Written by Brenton Wood (as Alfred Smith)
Performed by Brenton Wood
Courtesy of The Bicycle Music Company

User Reviews

Infinitely Bipolar

Living with a bipolar father proves difficult for two young girls when their mother has to move away to study in this comedy-drama blend set in the 1970s. The title comes from the youngest daughter misnaming her father's condition as "polar bear" - thematically relevant as the overall film is about the two girls learning to accept their father's behaviour beyond their own preconceptions, appreciating what he does do well. From such a description, the film might sound overly sweet, and in a way it is, only ever seeming to skim the surface, focusing only on how embarrassed the girls are by their father's inability to integrate into society. There are a couple of moments in which the girls genuinely seem afraid of what their father might do, but the film never tugs at the full experience of living with someone with mental issues; as others have said, Mark Ruffalo comes off as more an everyday eccentric than a manic depressive. That said, Ruffalo's performance is the film's best asset, frequently communicating a genuine interest to bond with his daughters and care for them in small, subtle ways. His facial expressions and movements convey more than his dialogue and it is easy to feel for his frustration at not being able to be everything that his daughters want. It is much harder to reconcile the film's blanket negative attitude to the US public school system throughout, but it does act as an acceptable symbol of all that the girls' parents are worried about, and the film does offer an acute portrait of parents doing what they can for their offspring, even if it falls short in other areas.