I saw Cake as more than a movie about a woman addicted to prescription pain pills. And it’s more than a movie about a woman recovering from a debilitating accident. That said, it could have been even more. I’m not sure how, but something was off.
Jennifer Anniston was not one of those off things, though. She indeed delivered a great performance, letting the viewer feel her anguish, her pain, her guilt, her confusion, her addiction, and her need, her utterly desperate need, for human connection. This isn’t Anniston’s first time in a role with depth; her performance in Cake reminded me a good deal of the one she delivered in Friends with Money—a bit of a quiet performance with much of her emotion coming through her face, her eyes, and her body language. (Still, having not seen Two Days, One Night (yet), I cannot comment on whether she *should* have received the Oscar nomination.)
I enjoyed the film Cake. I liked how it took its time to reveal issues with Claire’s situation and how she came to be. I appreciated its approach not as a “woman has bad accident and triumphs through a difficult recovery” story but instead as a story about a woman stuck in that recovery. The framing of Claire’s story not starting with her accident but instead starting when suicide becomes a factor in her life, that framing gave this movie just enough to prevent the story from falling too deeply into formulaic traps. On the other hand, the story line with the male figure—well, that felt forced and crafted for Hollywood expectations. And that disappointed.
In the end, though, I saw Cake as an important movie about addition to prescription pain medication and how easy it is for anyone—*anyone*—to get there. It is an important movie about chronic pain too. And it is an important movie about the individuality of every person’s road, every individual bump and pothole and roadblock on that road, when traversing the muddy muck that life sometimes gives you.