Maya Forbes’ comedic drama, Infinitely Polar Bear, is biographical. Cameron Stewart (Mark Ruffalo), the main character, is modelled after her father. Compassionate and funny, he’s a manic depressive with a bipolar edge. His African American wife, Maggie (Zoe Saldana), appreciates his finer qualities, but can no longer cope with his debilitating disorder. His two adolescent daughters (portrayed effervescently by Imogene Wolodarsky and Ashley Auferderheide) love him dearly but are embarrassed and annoyed by his erratic behavior.
In her debut feature film, which opens in Canada on July 3, Forbes charts the dissolution of a marriage, its effect on the children and a husband’s efforts to save it. The movie is set in Boston in the late 1970s.
Stewart is a study in downward mobility. The scion of a blueblood family, he’s fallen on hard times due to his condition. Financially supported by his patrician grandmother, he and his family live in a rent-controlled apartment in a depressed neighborhood. They want to send their rambunctious and intelligent daughters to a private school but can’t afford the tuition.
Having been fired from his job following a scuffle with the boss, Stewart is in dire straits, but doesn’t seem to be disheartened. Indeed, he appears relieved to be unemployed. Stewart is disconnected from the real world, but at times, he’s sensible, practical and perceptive.
In a virtuoso performance, Ruffalo, a lit cigarette usually dangling from his mouth, plays an unstable man who’s on an emotional rollercoaster. He lurches from euphoria to depression, upsetting and saddening his wife and children.
Medicated and confined to a halfway house, Stewart wants nothing more than a normal family life, but it’s beyond his reach. When Maggie decides to take 18 months off to pursue an MBA degree at Columbia University, in New York City, Stewart gets his chance to be a responsible adult. He agrees to take care of their two daughters while she completes her degree, and she promises to return to Boston on weekly visits.
It’s a mutually beneficial arrangement. Baby sitting his daughters will enable Stewart to maintain a routine, which will be good for his sanity and perhaps his marriage. Maggie, sensitively played by Saldana, hopes that an MBA will lift the family’s fortunes.
During Maggie’s absences, Stewart goes off on tangents, embarrassing and irking his daughters. But since he’s such a loveable guy, he endears himself to them.
Another sub-plot concerns Maggie’s efforts to land a job in Boston. When she discovers that racial prejudice will be a factor in her quest for employment, Stewart steps in. In an explosive scene in his cousin’s office, he tries but fails to find her a position in the family firm. When he realizes she will not be hired, he goes ballistic, smashing prized objects.
This incident, symptomatic of race relations in Boston 35 years ago, prompts Maggie to announce that she’s accepted a job offer in New York City. Her decision, if carried out, will spell finis to their marriage, since Stewart doesn’t want to leave Boston.
Far from sugarcoating their predicament, Forbes presents it with realism and humour in this empathetic film.