The Buzz Report: Audiences get teary-eyed for "Adam's" unconventional romance

Does Fox Searchlight have another ace up its sleeve in "Adam"?

The film spins an unconventional love story about a man with Asperger syndrome (Hugh Dancy) and an emotionally torn woman (Rose Byrne).

And in the hands of Fox Searchlight, it's a good bet that many outside Park City will eventually get to see the film. The specialty film label hit it out of the park with its 2006 Sundance purchase, "Little Miss Sunshine," and also launched "Juno" and "Slumdog Millionaire" to mass and critical fanfare.

"Adam" is decidedly a lower-key endeavor, a quieter story than Searchlight's previous breakouts and with lesser-known stars. (But watch out for 33-year-old Brit Hugh Dancy, who also appears in February's "Confessions of a Shopaholic" opposite "Wedding Crashers" breakout Isla Fisher.)

Still, judging by the tear-stained cheeks and thunderous applause that followed the Tuesday-night screening, its potential is palpable.

During the post-screening Q&A, writer-director Max Mayer said that Adam is really "a metaphor for all of us in intimate relationships ... desperate to make connections but not sure what that terrain looks like." The character's Asperger syndrome impedes his ability to understand gestures and facial expressions, making him socially awkward though he's highly intelligent. (Adam first woos Beth with his indoor planetarium and encyclopedic knowledge of space.)

As part of his own research, Dancy attended a socialization support group in New York. "Their generosity and desire to be represented and to make connections was enormous," he said.

Mayer said the inspiration for the film came from having heard a person with Asperger's speak on NPR. "I remember him saying it was sort of like being on the outside of a joke that everyone else was in on," Mayer said. "It moved me a lot. I had to know more."

-- Denise Martin

Photo: Rose Byrne and Hugh Dancy in "Adam." Credit: Image.net

Comments

[T. Harrison]

As a mental health professional I'm concerned that often public portrayals of individuals with various psychiatric syndromes and disorders are not properly portrayed and may confuse the general public. Case in point, the young male lead in "Mozart and the Whale" likely did not have AS but HFA, the two often confused because US and European criteria are different. I hope that "Adam" is more accurate to the DSM-IV-TR (2000) criteria.