Let me begin by saying that I feel very strongly about mental health and its de-stigmatization. I suffer from depression and anxiety and have for almost my whole life. I take medication for both of these issues. Some people would have a hard time admitting to that. Some people can’t even acknowledge that they are depressed. Some people feel a great source of shame because they are experiencing depression and don’t understand why. For My Sister, written and directed by Gabriel Rhenals, attempts to put a magnifying glass on mental health struggles in our country, and for that, I give it a round of applause.
Evie Sorella (Stephanie Maltez) lives in an apartment with her younger sister, Tris (Cristina de Fatima), who is about to start college. Everything is going well until the day after Tris’ college orientation when Evie receives a text from her friends saying that Tris wasn’t there. Then Tris begins staying in her room all the time and loses all interest in cleaning or eating healthy food, and is pretty much “in the Bell Jar,” so to speak. Evie is concerned because their mother committed suicide when they were younger. So she starts troubleshooting ways to help her sister. However, for whatever ridiculous reason, Evie is absolutely obsessed with “her record” and won’t go to a psychiatrist to ask for help for her sister.
“…Tris begins staying in her room all the time and loses all interest in cleaning or eating healthy food…”
Apparently, in the world of this film, medical records aren’t private? I don’t know, but anyway, Evie almost buys anti-depressants from a drug dealer rather than go to a psychiatrist. Eventually, she decides that her precious record is worth the risk and goes to a psychiatrist pretending to have Tris’ issues. When she gets an anti-depressant, Evie starts drugging her sister’s fast-food milkshakes in hopes that she will start feeling better.
Evie keeps going to more and more lengths to help Tris, some of which are completely absurd. I guess if it’s family, you’re willing to do anything to help them. Eventually, Evie ends up getting into trouble of her own, and things don’t look good for either of them. Thank God for REVEU, a company that uses nano-drones to travel to the near-past to show people exactly what happened to them during a certain period, or something like that. It’s a little fuzzy as to what the technology is fully capable of doing.
"…if you know anyone who thinks mental health problems aren't 'real' or that taking medication somehow makes you 'weak,' show them this movie."
