CharlieBennett

Intro• The film follows a young 17 year old boy called

Charlie Bennett as he is faced with many difficult challenges that will completely alter his life.

• At the start of the film we introduce Charlie to the audience and establish his current situation as an A-Level student struggling to cope with the stress of his studies and the other students who treat him badly.

Intro• The audience is also introduced to his best friend

Damien Cross and his mother Clare Bennett.• Damien is a shy character who also a target of

verbal abuse from other students. • Clare has had to deal with an abusive partner for

most of her life and because of this she suffers from depression. Her illness has made her harder for Charlie to talk to, so their relationship is a weak one.

• At the same time the audience is introduced to Richard Edding, a therapist well-known for having an immensely positive affect on his patients.

Part 1• One day Charlie and Damien are in class

together, the teacher has yet to arrive and one of the meaner students in the school enters the class and bumps into Damien and as a result he drops his bag and all the books fall out.

• He tells Damien to get on the floor and pick up his things, to which Damien obeys.

• He starts to pick up the boy’s things before he gets kicked and knocked over by the boy.

Part 1• Charlie is frozen and his mind is rushing at this

point. • Screaming in pain, Damien receives another kick,

but just before he gets kicked again, Charlie finally ticks and punches the boy to the ground.

• He then grabs him by the shirt and continues to punch his face, beating him half to death before the other students intervene and hold him down, and just in time for Miss Wilson to walk in and witness the event.

Part 1• She calls him into her office and questions him,

asking why he did it, to which he replies that he didn’t exactly know why and why he couldn’t stop once he started.

• Miss Wilson calls his mother and after hearing from other students in the class that Charlie was agitated by the boy as he attacked his friend, recommends that he sees a doctor about his mental health.

• Clair and Charlie, reluctantly, visit a doctor, who after asking Charlie several questions about his mood recently, tells them that Charlie could have Bipolar disorder.

Part 2• Due to the severity of the injuries Charlie caused

on the boy the doctor arranges for Charlie to start seeing Richard.

• Richard looks at the doctor’s report on Charlie and is astounded by the amount of damage he caused, and admits that this will be a tough case for him.

Part 2• In their first session Richard tries to learn about

how Charlie is, his likes and dislikes, before going on to explain what his condition is, that he will have manic periods where he will feel optimistic, indestructible, full of energy, but followed by periods of depression where he will feel pessimistic, anxiety, isolation and, if things get bad, suicidal.

• Charlie then asks if it was really him who attacked the boy or if it was a result of his condition.

Part 2• Richard is surprised as instead of worrying about

his wellbeing and his future, Charlie instead wants to know what happened was entirely his own fault.

• Richards explains that what he had was a manic episode, where he was agitated to the point that all of his anger came out in one go and so he couldn’t control it. Charlie is relieved to hear this.

• Richards then explains that there is no solid cure for his condition but they can work on controlling it and helping him deal with it.

Part 3• Over the next couple of weeks Charlie’s mood

turns low, even when he returns from his suspension from school, and this isn’t helped by the distance all of the other students are keeping between him and them.

• This gets Charlie feeling really down and isolated, although thanks to the sessions with Richard, Charlie is able to find some stability.

Part 3• Although she is trying to fight her own

depression, Clare tries to get close to Charlie so that she can comfort him but he keeps pushing her away, which gets Clare feeling like she is useless.

• Damien is also struggling to get to his friend as he is the only one who hasn’t turned his back on him in school, but Charlie also pushes him away.

Part 3• After just over a month since his first session with

Richard a new student arrives at the school, a girl called Louise Campton, who fits in quite well with everyone, but notices how Charlie always seems to be on his own so she asks some of the other students who he is.

• They explain that he’s a nobody who attacked a boy, earlier in the year.

Part 3• Louise feels that she isn’t being told the whole

story, so she decides to introduce herself to Charlie, who seems confused as to why someone other than Damian would want to be near him.

• She tries to make conversation with him before leaving to go to class, leaving him with her number.

Part 4• Later on that day Damien tries to talk to Charlie

who still isn’t talking much back, before Damian finally snaps and starts telling him that even though he has a mental condition he shouldn’t just throw aside any help and people that comes his way, and that he should think about him as well, as Damien has no other real friend in the school and right now he needs Charlie just as much as Charlie needs him.

Part 4• Charlie comes to a sudden realisation as to what

his condition is doing to him and the people around him, and so he breaks down into tears and apologises to Damien, admitting that he does need his help to get through this, to which Damien agrees to help him, finally happy that he has his friend back.

• When Charlie arrives home that day he goes to his mother and hugs her, apologising for not being there for her and for not accepting her help, to which she cries, admitting that it’s been hard and that she wants things to be better between them.

Part 5• In his next therapy session Charlie tells Richard

about his realisation and that he wants to work harder to control his illness.

• Richard is glad that Charlie is now gaining some motivation.

• When asked about the rest of the week Charlie mentions the new girl, Louise, and how she was the only other student who has spoken to him since the incident, and that she left him her number.

Part 5• Richard advises Charlie to contact her as talking

to someone new could have a positive effect on his life.

• Later that day Charlie calls Louise and arranges to meet her at a coffee shop, where at first he isn’t that talkative, but as time goes on he grows more comfortable around her and his mood starts to change.

Part 5• Soon enough she brings up the incident, asking

why it happened. • After thinking about it for a second he decides to

tell her everything, that he’s Bipolar and that the incident happened due to him being agitated by his seeing his friend getting hurt, and that he’s been trying to control his condition ever since.

• Louise, shocked at first, tells him that she understands him, and she thanks him for trusting her.

Part 6• After this their relationship grows even stronger,

up until one day when Charlie was meant to go out to the library with Damien to study for their exams, but at the last minute Louise invites him to go to Brighton for the day, to which he changes in plans.

Part 6• On his way home from the library Damien is

confronted by a group of hooded youths, one of them is the boy that Charlie had beaten.

• They surround him and beat him to the ground before the boy pulls out a knife and stabs him.

Part 6• Charlie then arrives home that evening to find his

mother in tears, she tells him about what happened to Damien.

• Charlie refuses to believe this, runs out of the house and towards Damien’s house.

Part 6• He finds a police car waiting outside. He runs up

to the door and bangs his fists on it. • A policewoman opens the door but Charlie looks

past her to see Damien’s parents at the end of the room in tears.

• He knows now that what he was told was true and runs back home.

• He runs back into his house and locks himself in his room.

Part 6• He refuses to leave the room or eat anything for

the following days. • He isn’t responding to Clare, and this causes her

to take more medication. • After a couple of days Louise decides to visit him

as he wasn’t replying to her calls or messages. • She enters his room to find nobody there, she

asks Clare if she knows where he is, to which she reacts with a scared look.

• She doesn’t know.

Part 7• Immediately Clare calls Richard and tells him that

Charlie’s gone, to which he tells her to start looking for him in the local area and that he will get immediately on the case.

• Richard knows that in Charlie’s current state he’s a danger to himself and that he needs to find him quickly.

Part 7• His mind quickly falls onto the bridge overlooking

the motorway, the most obvious place for Charlie to think to end his life.

• He drives straight there and finds Charlie standing on the edge.

• He tells Charlie to get down so that they could talk.

Part 7• Charlie tells him that he won’t get down because

he thinks that Damian’s death is his fault as he wasn’t with him and that he can’t live with himself anymore.

• He also says that he thinks of himself as an uncontrollable monster and that he doesn’t want to hurt anyone else anymore.

• He turns and looks down at the cars and trucks speeding by.

Part 7• Richard looks at him for a second before asking

him that if that’s how he felt then why hasn’t he jumped yet.

• Charlie admits that he’s scared of death and he’s confused.

• Richard then tells him to listen to him.

Part 7• He tells him that Damian’s death was not his fault

and was a result of sick human beings that are locked up now, he says that if he had known then he knows that Charlie would have been there in a second.

• He then goes on to tell him that he’s not a monster, that what happened in school was a result of built up anger and the urge to protect a friend.

• He tells him that his condition can be controlled, it will be hard work but he can reach stability at some point.

Part 7• Charlie asks if everything he’s being told is the

truth. • Richard says that it is and tells him once more to

get down so that Charlie can get back home to his worried mother.

• Charlie gets down and breaks down into tears and tells Richard that it’s hard, referring to living with his condition.

• Richard hugs him and says he knows.

End of Film