As has happened many times before, Christine will be released on the heels of a frightfully similar movie. Both this biopic and the documentary Kate Plays Christine, released earlier this summer, are based on the life of newscaster Christine Chubbuck, who committed suicide live on-air in 1974.
While the case has faded from widespread public knowledge, it exists on the fringe thanks to various websites and videos dedicated to the most shocking televised events in history. Facts about Christine are relatively scarce. Filling in that void is left to the filmmakers, and there’s plenty of space for multiple projects to take a stab at it.
The question that both projects must address is how Christine was able to stare down a camera and pull the trigger. It’s a horrendous idea, and one that most people will struggle to understand. Suicide is already an act that many judge harshly. To do it in public, where you risk causing emotional trauma to others, only heightens these negative reactions.
Let me tell you from personal experience that a person attempting suicide does consider this. I bought pills one night with the intent of taking the entire bottle and checking out on life. I looked directly at the person ringing up my purchase and wondered if they would find out about their connection to my death, if they would feel complicit, and if it would cause them irreparable harm. It’s one of the reasons I stopped myself.
What Christine must have been feeling to overcome this barrier is a sobering thought, and one that elicits nothing but sympathy from me. Perhaps a mainstream exploration of such a character, one with a recognizable actress like Rebecca Hall and the clout of some strong festival showings, will encourage more people to extend the same sympathy.
Christine is directed by Antonio Campos and stars Rebecca Hall, Michael C. Hall, and Tracy Letts. It will be released in the U.S. on October 14th, 2016. Further release dates are not currently know.
Do you think Christine will make the character into a sympathetic figure? Let us know in the comments!
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