Running head: FILM REVIEW
Film Review – When A Man Loves A Woman
Richard Graham
Liberty University
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When a Man Loves a Woman
In the movie “When A Man Loves A Woman” is a family struggling to deal with a
mother’s substance abuse. Alice the mother is a school counselor, her husband Michael is an
airplane pilot along with two daughters make up the family. Alice struggles with an alcohol
addiction and blames her addiction on work stressors, her husband’s frequent absence due to his
work and her having to take care of the family alone. Alcoholism is the abuse of alcohol despite
physical, mental and social problems caused by the alcohol (Ringold, Lynm & Glass, 2006). An
individual with alcohol typically losses control, has an inability to stop drinking and has a high
tolerance due to the needing to increase the amounts of alcohol in order to obtain the high. Alice
also disclosed that there is history of alcoholism in her family. Her father was an alcoholic and
it was father’s alcoholism that caused her to experiment with alcohol.
The movie depicts various stage of alcoholism and the effects on alcoholism on the
mother who is the addict, her two children and her husband. Alice behavior and addiction
adversely impacts her eldest daughter Jess. She is physically abusive to Jess and ignores her
children needs. Jess appears to the child that is more affected by her addiction. She is
traumatized when she witnesses her mother under the influence of alcohol, fainting in the shower
and thought that her mother was dead. The family is dysfunctional because the mother has an
addiction, the children are being neglected, there is a break down in the marriage as mother feels
disconnected from her husband, husband is frequently gone and appears to be in denial of his
wife’s addiction. Jess is forced to take on the caretaker role for her younger sister.
Denial plays a role in the family like in all families facing addiction. Bortolotti (2010)
shared that the term denial is selecting to ignore information and is a refusal to acknowledge the
reality of a situation. Denial can also be viewed as a form of motivated belief or self-deception
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that cause an individual to become detached from reality (Bortolotti, 2010). The main character
Alice has an addiction for alcohol and does not believe that she has a problem until she
physically hurts herself in the bathroom. The husband Michael appears to be an enabler and
appears to be disconnected from his family. He uses his job as an escape to avoid his wife’s
addiction.
Michael seeks to avoid his wife Alice’s addiction by being supportive and does not speak
or address the elephant in the room. Codependency plays a major role in the family, especially
the husband who emotionally supports the wife and allows her to carry on until she severely
hurts herself and needs medical attention. His support appears to stem from his own insecurities
of feeling needed, feelings of guilty and ways to repress the crisis in his life. His codependent
behavior continues after his wife returns from treatment and takes on the major role in the
family. Michael is unable to cope with seeing his wife in a healthy state and being in charge and
is affected by her action and seek therapy. The children are also affected and become
codependents by enduring the effects of their mother’s behavior and neglect.
Codependency is described as a primary disease that is present in addictive families
and is closely related to addiction. A codependent individual appears to can’t function from
his or her innate self (Knapek, Balazs & Szabo, 2017). The codependent partner supports
the addict, and something can engage the addict in harmful behaviors, helps to clean up and
cover up for the addict. According to Knapek, Balazs & Szabo (2017) the cause of
codependency occurs due to deficiencies in feelings and needs, and in family dynamics
which are characterized by denial, boundaries and dysfunctional rules.
Alice went into an in-stay treatment program to address her addiction, where she
learned to take responsibility for her action and no longer wants Michael to protect her from
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her actions. She seeks out a marriage counselor who identifies Michael codependency and
helps Alice to rewrite her life story. According to Blevins, Dana, & Lewis (1994) the family
is the central role in the treatment of substance abuse. Therefore, it is important to
understand the complex role that the family plays in substance abuse treatment. Blevins,
Dana, & Lewis (1994) put forth that the family can serve as a major source to the treatment
process but must manage the consequences of the addict addictive behavior. Providing
services to the family can improve the addict treatment and stabilize the family (Blevins,
Dana, & Lewis, 1994).
The therapist helps Alice to develop a treatment plan, set goals and master the
goals. The treatment appears to be effective because she is aware that she is an alcoholic
and realizes that remaining in a relationship with Michael is destructive to her recovery.
She understands that she has inflicted pain on her children and have neglected them. Alice
works to rebuild a relationship with her children and to remain they trust. Alice recovery is
evident when she accepts that she is an alcoholic and realizes that she is not in a healthy
relationship and if she continues with the marriage she would relapse. She takes the
appropriate steps to remain sober by asking Michael to leave the house.
This movie depicts real life struggles of families coping with addiction. As a
substance abuse counselor in training this movie served as an eye opener. It caused me to
reflect on family therapy and the importance of treating the family in order to stabilize the
family. Exploring various literature, studies and empirical data, very few showed family
therapy effective in helping clients in recovery. A family is a system and all parts of the
system are interrelated. A change in a part of the system will affect all the other parts.
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Therefore, therapy based on viewing the family will use the strengths of the family to bring
about the necessary changes.
Bortolotti, L. (2010). Delusions and other irrational beliefs. Oxford University Press; Oxford.
Ringold, S., Lynm, C., & Glass, R. (2006). Alcohol abuse and alcoholism. JAMA, 2006; 295
(17):2100. doi:10.1001/j1m1.295.17.2100.
Knapek, E., Balazs, K. & Szabo, I. (2017). The substance abuser’s partner: Do codependent
individuals have borderline and dependent personality disorder? Heroin Addiction and
Related Clinical Problems, 19(5), 55-62.
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References
Blevins, G., Dana, R. & Lewis, J. (1994). Substance abuse counseling: An individual approach.
(2nd ed.). Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole.
