NPR

Addiction Without An Ending In 'Beautiful Boy'

Based on the memoirs of an addict and his father, the film stars Timothée Chalamet and Steve Carell in a story about the ways addiction narratives don't tend to end neatly — or at all.
Based on the memoirs of an addict and his father, the film stars Timothée Chalamet (left) as Nic Sheff and Steve Carell as David Sheff in a story about the ways addiction narratives don't tend to end neatly — or at all.

What if you were trapped in the middle of a traditional addiction narrative forever?

In a traditional fictional addiction narrative, the addict begins the story able to coexist with the addiction, if indeed it even has emerged. The addiction deepens, loved ones discover it and there is a single lowest point. Then there is a surrender by the addict and a willingness to get help. Or, sometimes, there is not, or there is another fall and then there is death.

But the new film based on the memoirs, but the way addiction is lived , by the addict and by the family.

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