Breaking the (Autistic) Love Code: Donald and Isabelle from Mozart and and the Whale (2005)

Disclaimer: I am not a licensed medical professional and this series is not about diagnosing the character(s) with Autism Spectrum Disorder. This series is a personal examination of the film/TV show's plot, the character's traits and personality and how they relate to me as an Autistic woman. I will also examine canonically Autistic Characters, so take my personal opinions as just that, a personal opinion. I would encourage my readers to seek out different perspectives on disability representation especially from BIPOC disabled creators who are often ignored in the disability discourse. Also some of the topics I will discuss might be triggering so please take care of your mental health when reading. I will also try to avoid giving away any spoilers for those who have not seen the film/TV show but if I have to give context for my arguments, this will be a likely occurrence so please be forewarned.

In my last entry in the “Love Series” of Breaking the (Autistic) Code, I looked at a couple whom, for the most part, learned to work through their own differences in order to love themselves and each other. For this entry, I will be looking at another couple who are both Autistic and based on real people. The movie is based on a book, which was published two years after the film was released, of the same name about an Autistic couple who learned to work through their differences and ended up getting married, divorced, and then re-married. I was not sure how to really feel about the film at first, some people hated it, and some loved it. After watching it, I feel conflicted.

After doing some research, I found that Jerry Newport, the writer for the book, was consulted during production of the film so that is the film’s few saving graces. I am glad that Ron Bass, the writer for this film and the writer for Rain Man, actually listened to an Autistic person as opposed to ignoring Newport’s consultation.

“One of the producers was Robert Lawrence, originally connected to Rain Man as VP for new projects at Universal Studios. Robert knew that Stephen Spielberg had wanted to direct that movie and had promised to give him the first shot at another autism story. So when Robert met us, he knew it was just a matter of finding a screenwriter. He found Ron Bass, co-writer of Rain Man. Ron met us in spring of 1996 and by June, we were all up at Dreamworks, doing lunch with Mr. Spielberg, who offered to pay Bass and Lawrence a record 2.5 million just for the idea of a story based on the lives of Mary and me.

Ron Bass wrote [the Mozart and the Whale] script. Mary and I helped him by sharing some of our history, but the writing is from Ron Bass and his staff of writers who interviewed us, too.”

While I do appreciate the fact that both of the Newports were present during the production of the film and interacted with the cast during that time, I am still gonna give my opinion and what I felt they got “right” and got “wrong” in terms of representation of Autism. I am not interested in “correct” since Autism appears differently in each individual, I am interested in “human” representation of Autism. To be fair to Newport since during the time where he wrote the book, Asperger’s was still considered a diagnosis for “high-functioning Autistics.” And the historical baggage associated with that word was the elephant in the room that neurotypicals ignored until less than a decade ago. The cast for the film was still majorly neurotypical and this was a massive oversight on Robert Lawrence’s part since he went out of his way to get Jerry’s insights about his life and how he views the world during production. There are very few films which portray Autistic people in romantic relationships and all the complicated social rules that come with it. After watching the film, I feel very conflicted in how I feel about their relationship and what sort of impression that this would give to neurotypicals who may not be the most educated on the subject of Autism and the stigmas attached to it.

How were the characters treated throughout the film?

There are not many neurotypicals in the film, if you don’t count the actors playing the autistic characters, and the neurotypicals that do appear and interact with the main characters are pretty brief and unassuming. I will thank Bass and Lawrence for not having an Autism mom appear anywhere in the movie wearing a t-shirt covered in blue puzzle pieces because that is the last thing any Autistic person, including myself, wants to see. I can also appreciate the fact that the writers also clued in that not all Autistic people are the same nor do they experience the world the same way.

Donald is a low-support needs Autistic man, although he will say over and over again that he has Asperger’s, who calms himself when in a meltdown with math equations and numbers. He does not maintain eye contact with anyone, he is very sensitive to light (He covers his windows with newspaper), and his executive functioning issues leave him with a very dirty apartment that is covered in bird droppings and other trash due to his pets. He is also very methodical with his thinking and is the most “visibly” Autistic one in the couple. He used to be a cab driver but because of a workplace accident he was fired from that job. He was bullied by others as a child and he learns to not trust people and “only numbers” because “It turns out you can’t control people, or predict them. Numbers are direct, as I used to say, you can count on them.” He cannot stand changes to his environment as shown in one scene where Isabelle cleans his entire apartment and organizes everything; when Donald comes home he is reasonably distraught at this sudden change and demands that she never speak to him again because of this invasion of personal space. Donald becomes attached to Isabelle because she is the only person who accepts his neurodivergency even though Isabelle has unhealthy ways of managing her emotions, and very often does not know what she wants out of Donald.

Isabelle is also low-support needs and is the quirky, Manic Pixie Dream Girl, who is able to move about in the world without much difficulty due to her being quite sociable but “off” to the average person. She takes everything that people say to her literally and often has emotional outbursts; she is also very sensitive to metallic clanging as shown later in the film where they have a date at the fair. She has perfect musical pitch and is a painter while also working as a hairstylist. She was also a victim of childhood bullying as well as sexual abuse when she ran away from home. Autistic women and girls are one of the many groups that are, statistically, likely to be a victim of sexual abuse as some point in their life; with Isabelle some of her behaviours can be seen as her not only trying to mask her Autism but also trauma responses from the abuse she suffered in her life. When I was reading reviews for this film, many people seemed to doubt whether or not Isabelle was actually Autistic due to her behavior and her sociability. These beliefs surrounding Autism really highlights the knowledge gaps that the average person has in regards to Autism in women/femme-presenting people. Many Autistic women also have co-existing conditions and this does not invalidate their neurodivergency.

Donald and Isabelle’s relationship is fraught with problems quite possibly due to their own communication difficulties. Neither party being sensitive to the needs of the other, and their childhood traumas which, in a refreshing way, they are aware of as opposed to ignoring it. Of course, most relationships are not without their issues and it’s important for the respective couple, or unit, to communicate their problems and boundaries as they can tackle the issues whenever they do come up. Much like David and Sarah from Keep the Change, they have their own communication styles and ways of interacting with the world that could potentially cause issues if they approached it in an unhealthy way. This film is one of the few ones to show what an Autistic relationship could potentially look like but it also ignores that the root of Isabelle and Donald's trauma is in society’s ableism. What I found troubling is that neither of them directly communicate their problems until they are both in meltdown and that is when their own internalized ableism comes into the forefront. This is not to say that Autistic people are perfect and know how to do relationships, it is my concern that neurotypicals will watch these films and walk away with the expectation that any issues that Autistic people face are the Autistic’s fault especially if both individuals in the relationship are neuro-mixed.

Can being Autistic make things difficult? Yes but that is usually due to the Double Empathy problem between Autistics and neurotypicals. Autistic people can still learn healthy coping mechanisms or learn how to be healthy and trustworthy romantic partners. As it turns out, Autistic people have little-to-no issues in communicating with one another and vice-versa with neurotypicals. It is when Autistics try to interact with neurotypicals that communication problems become apparent. Society is quick to label Autistic people as deficit and defective without even attempting to understand the Autistic way of communicating or even interacting. Neurotypicals seem to be the ones demonstrating their own “deficits'' without a second thought and are never shamed for them. Meanwhile, Autistics are locked away in institutions, abused, often tortured by their own caretakers, but it is Autistics that are the defective ones according to society. Neurotypicals can also have difficulties in relationships but for some odd reason society does not go out of its way to block neurotypicals from experiencing romantic relationships like neurodivergent people.

The other characters hardly get much attention except for certain points in the plot and even then their traits are very one-note and “savant-like.” I was not expecting the side-characters to be deeply analyzed and understood like Isabelle and Donald but at the very least they could’ve played a much bigger role in the film since they are people who have similar disabilities to Donald and Isabelle. It was Gregory, one of the side characters, that advises Donald to stay away from Isabelle since she does not seem to really respect his boundaries. I wish that the film also touched on having a supportive community instead of passively mentioning it at the end where everyone is gathered around to celebrate their engagement/marriage. Donald/Jerry was responsible for building and organizing the community in the first place so it would’ve made sense for the community to also play an important role in Donald’s life.

Were members of the Autistic community consulted throughout production?

With the exception of both Newports, the other characters in the film are more based in surface level stereotypes than an actual look into their respective characters. One example is Janice, a woman who is extremely honest about everything and has no filter when it comes to her interactions with the other characters. I would’ve been very interested in seeing her have her own film because some of her remarks did give me a chuckle. She, at the very least, is one of the more interesting characters in that movie along with the other supporting characters.

Donald also said a remark regarding Autistic ways of relating to others that bothered me but wasn’t surprising for a film in the mid-2000s. “Asperger’s people want to connect with them, they are just pathetically clueless,” Again, I realize that this was mid-2000s but this still does not only highlight the ignorance of the writers, it also calls to attention the internalized ableism that many Autistic people did, and still, suffer from because of society. This was also brought to attention in Keep the Change but at least David learned to grow from those ideas. During the Halloween scene in the film, when Isabelle asks Donald why he dressed up as a whale, Donald explains, to paraphrase his words, that he wanted to feel important because he has been pushed to the side his entire life. He dressed up as a whale to embody that feeling of power. This scene felt really relatable to me since I was always the person pushed to the side throughout my life.

So, how did the actors do?

Josh Hartnett and Radha Mitchell did well in their respective roles. Hartnett did a good job playing an Autistic man with depth and maturity. His stims were portrayed as a natural form of movement and a coping mechanism and not in a mocking way. For a film of its time, especially since the Newports were consulted on the film I would’ve hoped that they at least tried to seek out an Autistic actor for the role and the same for Isabelle. Mitchell was a bit iffy for me because while Isabelle was at least relatable for me as an Autistic woman, I still found the character very disconcerting especially since she did say earlier in the film that she sees a therapist. If she was seeing a therapist, how come she was not given healthy ways of communicating with romantic partners? Earlier in the film, she also said a very lesbophobic remark, calling lesbian relationships "stupid", which while I do understand that LGBTQ+ representation was also not great back in the mid-2000s, it still did not lessen the sour taste in my mouth. I did appreciate the fact that Isabelle wasn’t written to be some sex-less being with no depth. It is difficult to find films featuring Autistic women expressing their sexuality. What I also found in my research was that Hartnett fought to have this film get funding which is respectable and shows that neurotypicals CAN use their social power for good.

Conclusion

I did not come to this film expecting a healthy relationship since this was made during a period where Autistic people are, and still continue to be, misunderstood by the larger majority. It was great to see an individual experience of Autism being consulted on and portrayed accurately, at least for Jerry and Mary Newport, it is still only an individual story and not entirely representative of every Autistic person and their experiences with romantic relationships. While I am happy that the Newports worked through their relationship issues, this film is still going to be analyzed through a “modern” lens in order for people to understand what was “right” and “wrong” about it and what to do in the future to improve representation.

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