Shine: The Life Of David Helfgott

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Shine is a dramatic biographical film that focuses on the life of David Helfgott, a classical pianist who experienced a nervous breakdown and suffered through many years of hospitalization. Near the start of the film, David was a child prodigy, now a teenager; who has received a scholarship to attend the Royal College of Music in London. Excited to share his music in another country, David is prohibited from leaving the Helfgott home by his father who is a man of control and perfection. After he leaves home and begins his study in London, David enters a competition where he performs Rachmaninoff’s 3rd concerto. This music was one he tried very hard to learn in his youth in order to please his father. As David works on the 3rd concerto, he starts to show signs of insanity. As David plays the piece in the concerto contest, he is showing facial signs of madness. When the piece finishes, he collapses. David then goes through shock therapy at a mental institution. When David recoups, his …show more content…

The criteria of schizoaffective disorder fit David Helfgott very well. Disorganized speech is also an important negative symptom of Schizoaffective Disorder. David’s speech becomes impaired after he has the nervous break down. David has issues where he cannot stop speaking, repetitive words, fast speech, over-wording, and taking extra time to make a point of what he is trying to say. This factor is also important. David did not do drugs. However, he received electric shock therapy after his hospitalization. I believe that Peter is most likely responsible for David getting diagnosed with Schizoaffective Disorder. He was a very rigid man. Peter displayed small signs of perfectionism, but there is no evidence of him acting in ways as an individual with schizoaffective disorder would. However, having an immediate family-member with schizoaffective disorder is not always the case. The pressure put on David by

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