Alison Pill On Why An All My Puny Sorrows Movie Was So Important To Make - Exclusive
This article contains references to suicide.
During a time when conversations around mental health are increasingly important, it's inspiring to see the topic reflected in such an honest way onscreen. Unfortunately, it's not always been that way. "We are not accustomed, or enabled, or really taught how to speak about mental health struggles in our culture," actress Alison Pill said during an exclusive interview with The List.
For that reason alone, she knew she needed to be involved in the film "All My Puny Sorrows." The story, based on the novel by Miriam Toews, follows two sisters who have gone through all their highs and lows growing up together. When one of them attempts to take her own life, it leaves the other sister questioning everything she's ever known. Why would her sister ever feel sadness with all the wealth and success she's surrounded with? "This movie looks at the actual experience in a way that we don't often get to see," Pill said, and she felt it was an incredibly important story that needed to be told.
If you or anyone you know is having suicidal thoughts, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
Mental health needs to be talked about a lot more often, says Pill
People aren't always open to having conversations about mental health due to fear of judgment, which is why Alison Pill found the new movie "All My Puny Sorrows" so significant. "This movie is important because it looks at the people having these struggles and looks to their own experiences as enough to explain their actions, without any further kind of judgment on top of it," the actress told The List. "That has been missing from the conversation for a while."
Something else that moviegoers haven't seen much of is how mental health affects not only the person, but family and friends they're surrounded by — the film follows the sibling of a woman who finds herself in a deep depression. "We do not shy away from conversations about judging people for their choices, or what we wish for them, or the frustrations of loving someone who is suffering from depression," Pill said of the characters in the movie.
Looking back, the actress is proud to have been able to showcase such an incredibly emotional story like this on-screen. "Mike McGowan's adaptation had found the essence of the struggle that these sisters have while also folding in the generational trauma and despair, and these questions of how sadness affects families," she shared. "He'd found this way through to a really cinematic way to tell the story, and I was overjoyed to be a part of it."
"All My Puny Sorrows" is now available for rental and purchase digitally and on demand.