The story follows Adam, who suffers from Asperger's syndrome and lives alone after his father's death. The appearance of the beautiful and cheerful female neighbor Beth has injected new sunshine into his life. They fell in love, but ended up being separated because they couldn't really fit into each other's worlds.
Adam suffers from autism. This doesn't prevent him from being of normal intelligence, even smart - smart enough to have a gift for astronomy. It's just that this makes him a barrier to communicating with people. Adam was not able to identify the emotions of his counterparts. There is no concept of lying in his thinking, including what ordinary people see as white lies, or even polite politeness. He will always be overly candid when communicating with others.
And the heroine, Beth, is beautiful and cheerful. Her work is a kindergarten teacher, her dream is to write children's books - Beth's heart is longing for a world of childlike innocence. So the big kid Adam attracted Beth.
So at the beginning of the film, the heroine monologue: "One of my favorite children's books, about a little prince who came to earth from a distant asteroid. He met a pilot who was trapped in the desert because of a plane crash. Professor Prince gave pilots a lot of things, but nothing but love. My dad used to tell me that I was like the little prince. But after I met Adam, I realized that I had always been a pilot.”
Adam and Beth are attracted to each other. Adam's way of expressing his love is straightforward: show Bess the cosmic landscape of his home, show Bess the raccoons in Central Park at midnight, and wear a spacesuit to clean Beth's glass because she "can't see clearly". Come to think of it, isn't this a lot like the way a little boy expresses his love for a little girl in kindergarten: give her all the candy?
Beth also likes Adam. After she knew that Adam was an autistic patient, she had always been subjectively willing to believe that his disease could be cured.
But Beth didn't think about it: If Adam's Asperger's syndrome can't be cured, what if Adam has been so unable to communicate normally with others? If Adam was cured, would he still be the Adam with the innocent innocence?
So Beth takes Adam to various social events that she finds interesting. Such as a gathering of friends, such as a fancy dress party themed restaurant.
In the restaurant, Beth complained to Adam: "You can't eat macaroni and cheese every night." She thinks Adam's life lacks fun. But if you bring Adam to participate in these interesting activities, the door of Adam's interest will definitely be opened.
In fact, at the beginning of the film, Adam is given a close-up of the food. His plate was cheese and macaroni. In his refrigerator, in the pantry, are rows of cheese and macaroni in the same package. In this serious and rigid state of life, Adam feels relaxed and safe.
Adam felt restrained and uneasy about these activities with "healing" function arranged by Beth for Adam. And, he's going to be nervous all the time.
Have to mention Beth's father.
In the film, Beth's father is almost the exact opposite of Adam. He has a happy family, a successful career, and he has the charm of a mature man. He is slick and sophisticated, with ease in both career and love and marriage. But he wasn't honest enough in his career and ended up in prison for two years for fraud; he wasn't faithful enough in his love marriage, and he cheated on a friend's daughter.
Adam is flawed by "honesty" and Beth's father is perfect by "dishonesty".
Beth's father loved his daughter very much.
When Beth gets carried away by love and wants to be with Adam desperately. Beth's father pinpointed the problem: " He's not for you. It's not his fault. But he, he's more like your child. In your relationship, he's never going to be something you can admire and look up to. The man. And it's not fair to him. Because some things are impossible for him. He lives in another world, and you don't need to compromise for that. "
Beth's father is a man who is not honest enough, but loves his wife and daughter deeply, and can assume the responsibility of family protector at any time.
If it were Adam, he couldn't. It's not that I don't want to, I really can't.
In the movie, the raccoon in Central Park, is a metaphor for Adam.
When Adam and Beth first met, Adam took Beth to see raccoons in Central Park at midnight.
" They don't belong here, but they are here ".
At the end of the film, Adam goes to work at an observatory in California. The location of the observatory is far from the hustle and bustle of the city, on the top of a lush mountain. Adam moved away from the crowd, like a raccoon leaving the noisy city and returning to the forest.
And Beth left Adam and chose the bustling city built of reinforced concrete that belonged to her.
The two finally returned to their own world. But this love didn't get them nothing: Adam was no longer as afraid to communicate and express himself as he used to be; Beth wrote a children's book based on Adam and the raccoons in Central Park.
Thank you for loving me, thank you for leaving me. Thank you for being a part of my life.
Some people say that Adam is a less joyous version of Sheldon. If that is the analogy, then Beth is Penny. Maybe they can give each other some comfort, but after all, they are not the same. One day, Sheldon will find Amy and start another life.
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