The Singing Detective

We rented The Singing Detective last night, the Hollywood version of the acclaimed BBC series by Dennis Potter. (Potter's BBC original Pennies from Heaven also saw a Hollywood incarnation. Both are soon to be available on DVD, but you can pre-order the BBC version here.)

Robert Downey, Jr. plays an embittered writer of detective novels (Dan Dark in this version, but the better named Philip Marlow in the original.) Dan Dark is a nasty man. He has nothing but contempt for everyone. He is incapable of either receiving or giving love. And he looks every bit as horrible as he is. For Dan Dark has a severe form of psoriasis that leaves him red, raw, and oozing. It also leaves him riddled with pain and crippled with arthritis. He is an untouchable.

One premise of the movie is that Dan Dark's disease is exacerbated by his inner demons. He is the picture of Dorian Gray come to life. During the course of the movie, as he comes to terms with those demons, he becomes both a better man and a better looking man. Beauty is truth and truth is beauty after all. But in real life, beauty and truth aren't always compatible, and the disease is far more likely to make the man than the other way around.

It's true that psoriasis can be aggravated by psychological factors. It's an itchy, autoimmune disorder of the skin. The more stress, the greater the itch. Greater itching means more scratching. And scratching only makes the disease worse. That aspect alone can be hell on earth, but in its severest forms it's also disfiguring and painful. It renders its victim a social outcast, which in turn only further exacerbates the disease cycle. And it's this aspect of it that makes it a particularly psychologically devastating disease.

Article Author: Sydney Smith

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