Romance is an old as time formula used in filmmaking. From Casa Blanca, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Roman Holiday, The Holiday, The Notebook, Call Me By Your Name, and so on, audiences relish in sitting through a two-hour tale of love and the countless obstacles the protagonists go through to finally come together. Nevertheless, some films present audiences with a relationship that while labeled a romance, lacks every necessary element to function as such; this is the case with 2012's Silver Linings Playbook. From deceit, emotional abuse, to overall disregard for each other's needs, Pat Solitano and Tiffany Maxwell are unfit to be in a romantic relationship with each other, or any other partner: Here is why Silver Linings Playbook is not a love story.
Abusive Partners
The most glaring issue with Silver Linings Playbook is its depicted abusive partners. Pat and Tiffany are not meant to be together in any way, shape, or form. They do not help each other grow; they bring out their worst qualities, and their common link is mental illness. The only reason why they manage to bond is due to Tiffany's lies; she convinces Pat to compete as her partner in a dance competition, in exchange for delivering a letter to his ex-wife, Nikki. Tiffany lies initially, saying she delivered the letter to Nikki and that she responded to Pat, when in reality it's Tiffany forging the letter to ensure Pat sees through his promise to her. While Tiffany fixates on Pat's affection from beginning to end, Pat himself only demeans Tiffany by comparing her to Nikki or by generally insulting her. Despite both Pat and Tiffany being on the spectrum for mental illness, he views her as inferior due to her illness.
Untreated Mental Illness
Both Pat and Tiffany suffer from mental illness, which gives way to the film's central plot. Pat is institutionalized for nearly beating Nikki's lover to death, and soon after is diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Tiffany suffers from depression offset by her husband's death. Their responses to trauma are anything but conducive to treatment: Pat obsesses over Nikki and will go to extreme measures to contact her; Tiffany resorts to promiscuity as a coping mechanism, which results in her losing her job and alienating those closest to her. These two characters only come together because they refuse to find a healthy outlet to treat their mental illness.
Self-Serving Protagonists
Pat and Tiffany are self-serving protagonists and never have significant changes on-screen. Pat's sole motivation for getting close to Tiffany is Nikki, and he makes it clear to her. Even Pat's realization that he's actually fallen in love with Tiffany feels contrived considering his minimal signs of affection towards her during the movie's runtime. Tiffany, on the other hand, is determined to get close to Pat and has her own agenda in doing so; from trying to convince him into casual sex, arranging random meetings between them throughout their neighborhood, getting close to Pat's family, to lastly, the dance competition, all of Tiffany's actions are driven by her desire to get Pat to fall for her. Neither of the protagonists are noble in their motivations, and for that matter, aren't compelling to watch, much less root for.
Unhealthy Attachments
Pat and Tiffany have countless unhealthy attachments, most of which have nothing to do with one another. Pat has daily ruminations focused on Nikki, from jogging past their shared home, reading Hemingway because it reminds him of Nikki, to talking about Nikki to everyone he knows, at any moment of the day, every day: Pat's every hobby revolves around the idea of his ex-wife. For Tiffany, she substitutes the warmth and sexual desire her husband once provided her by becoming involved with copious partners, only to be left alone once again by the end of the sexual encounters. Tiffany even manages to turn her one healthy outlet, the dance competition, into a means of keeping Pat in her life.
While never implicitly implied, Tiffany dabbles into substance abuse, specifically alcohol as she drinks uncontrollably throughout various scenes in the film. On the contrary, Tiffany neglects finding the proper medication to treat her mental illness, at one point naming the countless medications she's experimented with to Pat and expressing that none of them have given her proper relief.
Disregard of Boundaries
Any relationship requires a list of things to properly function: love, honesty, respect, and clearly defined boundaries--no one in Silver Linings Playbook exhibits any of these qualities. Through a series of flashbacks, audiences are introduced to Pat and Nikki's marriage before the inciting incident that led to their divorce; Pat was far from an ideal partner, mostly due to his undiagnosed mental illness. From erratic mood swings to his explosive behavior, Pat slowly pushed Nikki away. Nikki, in turn, was dishonest, opting to engage in an extramarital affair instead of confronting Pat about their problems, or asking for a divorce before becoming unfaithful. Pat's lack of boundaries extends to every other relationship in his life; he crosses the line of professionalism with his therapist, he constantly infringes on his parents' own relationship through his actions; and he refuses to take accountability over his fault in his failed relationships, from marriage, to friendships, to his family.
Tiffany herself has nonexistent boundaries with family and platonic connections alike; she argues with her sister constantly, instead of reflecting on her mistakes, she invades Pat's family life only to get closer to him, and she refuses to see that Pat is yet another substitution for her deceased husband. Instead of setting clear boundaries between them and the people worsening their mental illness, Pat and Tiffany destroy any boundaries that stand in the way of their ultimate goal. Silver Linings Playbook depicts deteriorating mental health in a raw manner, and while presented as a love story, is truly a cautionary tale for those finding themselves in a similar destructive relationship to that of Pat and Tiffany's.