Pure O: A Problematic Film That Does Too Much Talking and Not Enough Showing

Pure O, written and directed by Dillon Tucker, is a story of a man who is supposedly suffering from a certain spectrum of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD).

Inspired by Tucker’s own struggles, the film feels like a head patting, feel good show, that doesn’t even begin to touch the surface of the depth of its crippling problems

Quick diagnosis

Cooper (Daniel Dorr), is an addiction counselor who has been in a relationship with his girlfriend Emily (Hope Lauren) for eight years. They have come to the point of getting engaged and are mapping out possibilities for their life.

Cooper gets, what seems like, a one session diagnosis of OCD, a purely obsessional type that tends to present itself mentally only, and is sent to see a specialist (Candice Renee), to start treatment.

She too knows all the answers about Cooper’s situation ahead of time, and what he has without barely even talking to him. She spouts long winded definitions without having tested him whatsoever.

Meanwhile, Cooper’s life starts to slowly fall apart, starting with the loss of a screenwriting job. The OCD doesn’t seem to trouble him much at all, with the one exception of an intrusive thought about causing harm to his girlfriend.

He starts group therapy, with Rodney (Clint James), Liz (Casey Vandeventer) and Jake (Chuck Arjavac), who are dutifully assigned different types of OCD, which they also define for the audience.

No one seems particularly fussed about their issues, and it’s like the actors are there just to embody a diagnosis and nothing else. They jovially joke about their issues and laugh, rather than share any feelings of shame, depression or anxiety.

Life happens

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Cooper’s life starts to take a turn for the worse when Emily’s stepfather gets terminal cancer and she gets unexpectedly pregnant.

Neither Emily or Cooper are ready for the pregnancy. Though they try to make it a good thing at first, eventually the discussion of abortion comes up. With any other person, even without OCD, both of these life stressors can become extremely upsetting and change the lives of those going through it.

Not only would you have to help your partner manage the loss of a father figure, but navigating the decision about ending a pregnancy can be traumatizing, especially for the person with the uterus.

Somehow Cooper manages to keep his OCD thoughts and anxieties at a low simmer while handling these problems, AND living with the stress of working with addicts. For most people with OCD, life problems only increase their symptoms and some shut down completely from issues much lighter than these.

in all honesty…

Pure O aspires to be a primer for those who know nothing about OCD, but refuses to show the realities of the disorder. It spends way too much time talking about definitions and focusing on Cooper’s outside problems, without allowing us to see what’s really going on inside.

Definitions don’t connect an audience nor help them get a feel of what OCD is or what it does. Screenwriting is supposed to show, more than tell what any character is going through, so the audience can have perspective and an experience with them.

We see Cooper triggered by a couple of things, like chopping vegetables near his girlfriend, but none of his thoughts or how they are affecting him are explored with more than a couple of words. When Cooper gets upset, there’s no information for us to understand what or why it’s so distressing to him.

As someone who has worked in mental health for decades and lives with a loved one with OCD, this film fails audiences on almost all levels. Though everyone’s experience is different, OCD can be especially disabling, wreck relationships, cause incredible stress on families, interfere with daily activities and make some unable to work a job or function sexually.

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The anxiety caused by OCD can get so terrible that it is all consuming. The film states that, unlike the stereotype, not all OCD presents as obsessive cleaning and rituals, which is true. However, it glazes over just how bad the reality can actually get.

In the 5th version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-V), which trained therapists use to diagnose patients, it is no longer considered an anxiety disorder, rather, it’s in its own category called “Obsessive Compulsive and Related Disorders”.

Anxiety is just one of the symptoms that presents in OCD, but this kind of anxiety is taken to a severe extreme, that can present with breathtaking fears due to the lack of control people living with this feel. No one really knows yet how it happens, but genetics and past trauma are a couple of theories.

The danger that can happen when an audience isn’t able to connect with a character in this sort of film, is that they can walk away with a skewed perspective of the problems and its repercussions.

The filmmaker’s decision to make this all about Cooper’s outside life, versus spending more time with his inner experiences, sets an irresponsible, ableist view about OCD. It makes it seems like all a person has to do is go get diagnosed and have one or two sessions with facing their fears, and they’re miraculously healed.

The reality is a nightmare. OCD looks a lot like many other types of disorders, and it takes time and in depth neurologic and psychiatric testing to diagnose. Absolutely no competent therapist would ever diagnose it after one or two sessions, nor would they allow a client to put a real knife to someone’s throat, within the confines of treatment.

Cooper probably wouldn’t have the capacity to care for people with addictions. Addicts have a whole host of different problems and needs that require a level of stability by their caretakers and counselors, that most people living with OCD wouldn’t be able to meet. The idea that an addict would have a life altering breakthrough moment from one of Cooper’s insights about himself, is ludicrous.

I really wanted to support the idea of the film, but its reality is far too limited in scope and depicts OCD as an alarmingly easy to deal with disorder. It felt like a Lifetime Television version of a mental health issue, where everything is tidily fixed, and is wrapped up with a smiley sticker at the end.

That sort of depiction is seriously disrespectful to the many others who suffer with these devastating conditions, and misinforms with its toxically naive, light hearted portrayal.

People living with this condition deserve much better.