The Lost Weekend (1945) ****

The Lost Weekend features Ray Milland, in an Academy Award winning performance, as an alcoholic suffering from writer's block who has one particularly bad weekend when he skips out on a trip he was supposed to take with his brother. Don Birnam (Milland) was an extremely talented writer in his young age, so much so that he left college early to pursue a professional career. After a few books that didn't fare so well with the public, his self-confidence hit an all time low and he began to be tempted by the drink to help alleviate his fears and focus his mind. Needless to say his new found addiction only caused him to spiral further out of control until he can barely write a single paragraph before giving up and spends whatever money he has feeding his habit in a desperate bid for inspiration to strike.

The film doesn't merely focus on just the titular weekend, as his first meeting with the lovely Helen St. James (Jane Wyman) is also recounted and how the beginning of their relationship led to a brief reprieve from his problem. Unfortunately the pressure of meeting her parents and how they would view his "success" sent him on a long-overdue binge. Once the cat was out of the bag, he lost his motivation to hide his drinking and delved deeper into the pit that alcohol had dug for him. Despite the numerous attempts made by Helen and Wick (Phillip Terry), his brother, to try and get him some help, they are both at their wit's end since it's clear that Don does not want any. All he cares about is getting that next drink and it doesn't matter to him who he hurts in order to obtain it.

The film is a dark look into a serious affliction and highlights the personal tragedies as well as health hazards that accompany such an addiction. Don has sunk so low that even the local bartender, Nat (Howard Da Silva, whose scenes with Milland are some of the film's best), has grown concerned about his health and welfare. He reluctantly pours each shot that Don orders and is disgusted by how Don can be such a letdown to Helen or when he makes a date with Gloria (Doris Dowling), a young woman quite smitten with him, despite the fact he never has any intention on keeping it. He slowly descends into a maddening spiral of drunken and boorish behavior, waking up each morning unaware of what happened the night before. The only thing he is sure about is that he needs another drink. At one point he desperately tears apart his apartment trying to figure out where he hid a bottle of whiskey while drunk the night before. He's even publicly humiliated when caught stealing a woman's purse in a bar for money to cover his tab when he has none.

Billy Wilder uses many different techniques to draw the audience into understanding Don's situation. The heavy use of the theremin in the soundtrack gives a surreal, sometimes nightmarish, musical arrangement to underscore Don's loss of grip with reality and his descent into the depths of despair. Little touches such as the multiple rings of spilt alcohol on the counter of the bar to highlight the quick passage of time and the growing number of milk bottles outside Don's door that he can't even be bothered to bring in gives a subtle hint as to how much of a one-track mind he has. Even the first shot is one that flies over the city, passing the windows of an apartment building until, rather than settling on Don packing for the trip, first focuses on the bottle he has hidden outside the window. The presence of alcohol is as prevalent throughout the film as any other character and the entire film is a struggle for Don to let go of the self doubts that drive his need to drink and accept the help that Helen and Wick continuously offer him.

Favorite moment: Probably the most memorable scene of the entire film is when Don is attending a performance of La Traviata and during, suitably, the "Drinking Song" piece all he can focus on are the prop glasses and bottles of alcohol being held by the cast during the number. He begins to fidget and perspire as he cannot shake the need to take a drink and remembering that he hid a small bottle in his checked raincoat, he imagines the entire cast as swaying raincoats with a noticeable bulge in the pocket signifying the bottle he needs so much. A seemingly comedic scene at first glance, it's the best visual signature of Don's obsession and certainly leaves a lasting impression on the audience.