.jpg/1333px-The_Lost_Weekend_(1945_film).jpg)
Community hub
Recent from talks
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
The Lost Weekend
The Lost Weekend is a 1945 American drama film noir directed by Billy Wilder, and starring Ray Milland and Jane Wyman. It was based on Charles R. Jackson's 1944 novel about an alcoholic writer. The film was nominated for seven Academy Awards and won four: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Adapted Screenplay. It also shared the Grand Prix at the first Cannes Film Festival, making it one of only four films—the other three being Marty (1955), Parasite (2019) and Anora (2024)—to win both the Academy Award for Best Picture and the highest award at Cannes.
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 97% based on 70 reviews, with an average rating of 8.4/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Director Billy Wilder's unflinchingly honest look at the effects of alcoholism may have had some of its impact blunted by time, but it remains a powerful and remarkably prescient film." In 2011, it was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."
On Thursday, alcoholic New York writer Don Birnam is packing for a weekend vacation with his brother Wick. Although they are leaving mid-afternoon, when Don's girlfriend Helen drops by with gifts for him and two tickets for a concert that afternoon, Don suggests that Wick attends with her; the brothers can then catch a later train. His motive is self-serving: he has a bottle hanging by a rope outside the window and wants to retrieve it and secure it in his suitcase. Wick eventually discovers the bottle. Don claims to have forgotten it was there; Wick pours it down the drain. Now, knowing that all the liquor Don had hidden in the apartment has been disposed of, and believing that he has no money for more, Helen and Wick go to the concert.
After finding ten dollars Wick left for the cleaning lady, Don heads for Nat's Bar, calling in at a liquor store on the way to purchase two bottles of rye. He intends to be back home in time to meet Wick and catch their train but his drinking makes him lose track of time. Arriving home, he sees Wick and Helen on the street and, concealing himself, overhears Wick say that he has given up on helping Don and is leaving, scolding Helen for deciding to stay and wait for Don. Don sneaks back into the apartment and hides a bottle while drinking the other one.
On Friday, at Nat's Bar, Don learns that Helen came in looking for him the previous night. Don says that he intends to write a novel about his battle with alcoholism, called The Bottle. In a flashback, he recalls how he first met Helen at the opera house. The cloakroom has mixed up their coats. Subsequently, the two strike up a romance, and he remains sober during this time. While going to meet her parents, he overhears them talking about his unemployment and how they are not certain if he is good enough for Helen. He loses his nerve and sneaks off, after phoning Helen from a booth and making a phony excuse, ostensibly intending to meet her parents later. However, he returns home and gets drunk. She goes to his apartment, where Wick tries to cover for him, but Don confesses that he is two people: "Don the writer", whose fear of failure causes him to drink, and "Don the drunk", who always has to be bailed out by Wick. Helen devotes herself to helping him.
After telling Nat the story behind his proposed novel, Don heads back home to begin writing it. However, his alcohol cravings get the better of him and he begins a search for that second bottle from the previous night. He cannot remember where he hid it. He goes to a nightclub, realizes that he cannot pay the bill and steals money from a woman's purse. He is caught, thrown out, and told never to return. Once home, he finds the hidden bottle by chance and drinks himself into a stupor.
On Saturday, Don is broke and feeling sick. He decides to pawn his typewriter so he can buy more alcohol, although he dreads the walk to the shop because he feels so ill. He discovers the pawnshops are closed for Yom Kippur. Desperate for money, he visits Gloria, a prostitute who has a crush on him. She gives him some money, but he falls down her stairs and is knocked unconscious.
On Sunday, Don wakes up in an alcoholics' ward at Bellevue Hospital, where a nurse, Bim Nolan, mocks him and other guests at "Hangover Plaza". Bim offers to help offset his sure-to-come delirium tremens, but Don rejects the assistance and escapes while the staff is occupied with a raving, violent patient.
Hub AI
The Lost Weekend AI simulator
(@The Lost Weekend_simulator)
The Lost Weekend
The Lost Weekend is a 1945 American drama film noir directed by Billy Wilder, and starring Ray Milland and Jane Wyman. It was based on Charles R. Jackson's 1944 novel about an alcoholic writer. The film was nominated for seven Academy Awards and won four: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Adapted Screenplay. It also shared the Grand Prix at the first Cannes Film Festival, making it one of only four films—the other three being Marty (1955), Parasite (2019) and Anora (2024)—to win both the Academy Award for Best Picture and the highest award at Cannes.
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 97% based on 70 reviews, with an average rating of 8.4/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Director Billy Wilder's unflinchingly honest look at the effects of alcoholism may have had some of its impact blunted by time, but it remains a powerful and remarkably prescient film." In 2011, it was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."
On Thursday, alcoholic New York writer Don Birnam is packing for a weekend vacation with his brother Wick. Although they are leaving mid-afternoon, when Don's girlfriend Helen drops by with gifts for him and two tickets for a concert that afternoon, Don suggests that Wick attends with her; the brothers can then catch a later train. His motive is self-serving: he has a bottle hanging by a rope outside the window and wants to retrieve it and secure it in his suitcase. Wick eventually discovers the bottle. Don claims to have forgotten it was there; Wick pours it down the drain. Now, knowing that all the liquor Don had hidden in the apartment has been disposed of, and believing that he has no money for more, Helen and Wick go to the concert.
After finding ten dollars Wick left for the cleaning lady, Don heads for Nat's Bar, calling in at a liquor store on the way to purchase two bottles of rye. He intends to be back home in time to meet Wick and catch their train but his drinking makes him lose track of time. Arriving home, he sees Wick and Helen on the street and, concealing himself, overhears Wick say that he has given up on helping Don and is leaving, scolding Helen for deciding to stay and wait for Don. Don sneaks back into the apartment and hides a bottle while drinking the other one.
On Friday, at Nat's Bar, Don learns that Helen came in looking for him the previous night. Don says that he intends to write a novel about his battle with alcoholism, called The Bottle. In a flashback, he recalls how he first met Helen at the opera house. The cloakroom has mixed up their coats. Subsequently, the two strike up a romance, and he remains sober during this time. While going to meet her parents, he overhears them talking about his unemployment and how they are not certain if he is good enough for Helen. He loses his nerve and sneaks off, after phoning Helen from a booth and making a phony excuse, ostensibly intending to meet her parents later. However, he returns home and gets drunk. She goes to his apartment, where Wick tries to cover for him, but Don confesses that he is two people: "Don the writer", whose fear of failure causes him to drink, and "Don the drunk", who always has to be bailed out by Wick. Helen devotes herself to helping him.
After telling Nat the story behind his proposed novel, Don heads back home to begin writing it. However, his alcohol cravings get the better of him and he begins a search for that second bottle from the previous night. He cannot remember where he hid it. He goes to a nightclub, realizes that he cannot pay the bill and steals money from a woman's purse. He is caught, thrown out, and told never to return. Once home, he finds the hidden bottle by chance and drinks himself into a stupor.
On Saturday, Don is broke and feeling sick. He decides to pawn his typewriter so he can buy more alcohol, although he dreads the walk to the shop because he feels so ill. He discovers the pawnshops are closed for Yom Kippur. Desperate for money, he visits Gloria, a prostitute who has a crush on him. She gives him some money, but he falls down her stairs and is knocked unconscious.
On Sunday, Don wakes up in an alcoholics' ward at Bellevue Hospital, where a nurse, Bim Nolan, mocks him and other guests at "Hangover Plaza". Bim offers to help offset his sure-to-come delirium tremens, but Don rejects the assistance and escapes while the staff is occupied with a raving, violent patient.