Troian Bellisario - Olivia Grey {Feed} #1: Even their dreams are connected. SPOILERS - Page 10

**BlondieLeigh** · 07-18-2017, 01:08 PM

I have three boards

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t2727 · 07-18-2017, 01:13 PM

Then you shouldn't take on so much if you can't due your job here properly

Has Veronica taught you nothing?

**BlondieLeigh** · 07-19-2017, 11:49 AM

I spend the most time at this one

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Bellisario, who struggled with an eating disorder throughout high school, lost weight to prepare for her role in Feed, which she wrote, produced and starred in. The actress worked with a doctor to monitor her health through filming, but said that while she hopes the movie "resonates" with an audience, people struggling with eating disorders should "seriously consider whether you want to watch, because there are going to be triggering aspects." She encourages others, however, to seek treatment or educational resources through the National Eating Disorder Association's website and toll-free hotline.

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t2727 · 07-19-2017, 12:31 PM

So have you watched yet?

**BlondieLeigh** · 07-21-2017, 01:23 PM

I have not. Not enough money on my itunes account right now.

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Feed (2017) Review
Sensational psychological drama about a woman suffering from great loss.

Feed is a 2017 drama about 18-year-old twins born into a world of privilege and high expectations where even their dreams are connected.

Twins have long been the subject of all kinds of mystery and fantasy in movies, with sets having special powers and bonds that separate them from the ‘normals’ out there. With Feed, the link is not so much one of great power or evil, but of terrible weight as one becomes an anchor to a dreadful disorder in a film that avoids the archetypes of the genre, crafting a spellbinding and often disturbing story of love, loss, and recovery.

High school twins Olivia (Troian Bellisario) and Matt (Tom Felton) are already close, good looking and popular, he the class president and she soon to be the valedictorian. Matt however has a protective streak in him, always looking to take care of his sister, sometimes too much. One night at a party, she has some drinks and gets flirty, prompting Matt to take her home, and just as she berates him for doing so, they suffer a terrible car accident, one that kills Matt and leaves Olivia racked with guilt. As the months pass, her school performance begins to slip, but more so, she stops eating and begins to ‘see’ Matt in her waking dreams. But is it real or is she falling apart?

Directed by Tommy Bertelsen and written by Bellisario, Feed is a film steeped in metaphor, one that presents itself as one thing but is something else entirely. Making efforts to seem like a ghost story, the message is more than the bond between brother and sister, but something far darker as Olivia’s descent into anorexia begins to take hold. As she caves in on herself, further themes develop and we begin to question, as does Olivia, much about what we are seeing. We grow concerned for Olivia as she withers away, and yet it is often more from the mental break she so clearly seems to be suffering from than the weight loss. We soon realize what Matt really is, an ever-present spectre of the condition that worms its way into her very soul and ruins her in ways that make her compete for control.

Bertelsen and Bellisario’s script deftly toys with the seduction of the disorder, masking the monster behind Olivia’s spiral with sexual innuendo and traumatic dreams never once saying the word anorexia, even as everyone around her suspects as much. Bellisario is hard to watch as she undertakes the physical demands of the role, and is emotionally exhausting to keep up with, convincing us at every turn of Olivia’s ordeal. It’s hard not to compare her and the movie with the recent To The Bone, a film similar in theme but very different in execution. Bellisario deserves high praise for her performance.

Feed explores the tragedy of anorexia with great respect, never exploiting it for the visual horror it can be but rather the highly-personal internal battle it involves, giving voice to the victims who suffer in misunderstanding. It’s a challenging, heartbreaking experience.

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t2727 · 07-21-2017, 01:30 PM

I'm sure Jade would buy it for you.

**BlondieLeigh** · 07-22-2017, 01:40 PM

Doubtful

**Summer Falls** · 07-23-2017, 08:10 AM

i do want to watch it does it cost a lot?? ihas anyone see lily collins movie on netflex cause to the bone ? also about eating disorder it was an eye opener .. such a hard thing to go thorugh

**BlondieLeigh** · 07-25-2017, 02:33 PM

Feed should be on itunes.

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Samanthamckenny · 07-26-2017, 05:31 AM

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Originally Posted by Summer Falls (View Post)

i do want to watch it does it cost a lot?? ihas anyone see lily collins movie on netflex cause to the bone ? also about eating disorder it was an eye opener .. such a hard thing to go thorugh

It was about $15 pre-tax when I bought it off iTunes. Like $14.99? My iPad won't tell me because I've already paid for it. I definitely recommend it if you liked "To the Bone". Troian and Tom both do an incredible job and it was very well written (props to Troian).

**BlondieLeigh** · 07-26-2017, 03:09 PM

From her post it forward tumblr Q&A -

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what is the most important message that you want people to take from feed?

That no one deserves to suffer alone. That mental illness is something to be taken seriously, worked through with treatment and the person with it should be given support and love, never stigmatized or diminished.

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How do you feel about the reception Feed has gotten so far?

Thrilled. Beyond thrilled. I hope we will eventually get some main stream acknowledgement, reviews from film sites or a festival run would have been nice, but that’s just me being a selfish filmmaker. The best part about the reception, so far, is that the community of people I wrote the film for have been so warm and receptive. If I had written this film and people who had suffered or are suffering from an ED said, “You got it wrong” or “This makes things worse” I don’t know what I would have done, I would have been so deeply ashamed. But it’s been the exact opposite hearing from people in recovery that they feel seen by the film, that they feel represented by the film and supported by the message of the film makes me feel SO PROUD. That community is who I wrote this film for, so that hopefully they could watch it with those they love or are near to and it can start a better conversation of understanding and maybe one of support to get help.

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Hi Troian, congratulations on the release of your latest movie Feed. The writing was absolutely moving, and your perspective on the mental illness was powerful in a way I hope touches the people in need of it. For those wanting to write something of their own, how long did it take you to write Feed? Thank you for your work, I'm inspired by you every day and wish you luck on whatever journey comes next.

Thank you so much for saying that, I hope it touches people in need too!

I wish I could give you a less intimidating answer. I wrote Feed first in a week. It just poured out of me, but it was probably really bad. Then I started working on PLL so I could only focus on it in fits and bursts. I ended up re-writing it and trying to get it made for the subsequent 6 years. But that was mostly because it was difficult to get people to understand it. It bends genres, between a psychological thriller and a straight drama, it is about an eating disorder, but not in the day that most “issue” films are. It was really, really hard to get people to understand what I was trying to do. It’s not for everyone, but I think the people we made it for get it, so it was worth waiting 8 years for it to finally come out.

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Do you think having shows and movies about mental illness and eating disorders, such as Feed, 13 Reasons Why, and To The Bone are important? There was a lot of backlash about 13 Reasons Why; do you think this film will be met with the same backlash? Was there concern about how to handle these issues?

I have not seen 13 reasons why, so I really don’t feel able to comment. I watched To the Bone and was blown away by Lily Collins’ work, and Marti Noxon’s direction and writing. I was triggered by the film, yes, but I also don’t think you can watch something for 2 hours that you have such a close relationship with and intense past with and not be triggered.

I think that all the films coming out about mental illness, whether it is Feed or To the Bone, I think are doing a service because they are creating a space for people to talk about their struggles. A space to share how they feel, how they pulled themselves out of a dark space, how they finally found their way to treatment, and also what helps when they feel triggered or feel like engaging with it again. So that those people who are fighting with their ED’s can see a way out, perhaps they can get inspired to seek help.

Yes. I have been greatly concerned with how Feed would be received. Not critically, but within the mental health community. I wanted to make a film that helped the situation, so if the response was negative, or I heard that people thought it made things worse, I would have beeb devastated. But so far the response has been wonderful, I think a lot of people really relate to Olivia’s story and of that I am so thrilled and proud.

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Was there any scene in this movie that was particularly difficult for you to write or shoot?

Yes, the hospitalization scenes were tricky because I wanted them to be heightened and menacing, but I didn’t want to make treatment scare people off or seem like torture. It can feel like torture when you don’t want to get better, but those scenes with Dr. Rothstein I wanted to feel impactful and offer insight into the disease and hopefully hope. So, it was a tricky balance.

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What were some of the challenges you went through while filming Feed?

Writing Feed felt very cathartic. If I ever felt like the disease was gaining too much of power during the process or I was feeling too triggered by engaging with the story I could walk away. Filming it was different. During filming, because there was an actor enacting the part of my disease, because there was a physical transformation that meant losing weight, there were a lot of triggers. There were a lot of opportunities for my disease to wake back up and take the wheel of my thoughts, decisions and actions. It was dangerous because it was like willingly picking back up a drug or a drink when you know you have worked hard for sobriety.

BUT, I was also in a character. I was not Troian going back to when Troian experienced her struggles. I, as the writer, knew Olivia’s conversations with Matt after his death were conversations between her and a disease, but Olivia didn’t. As Olivia, I had to invest in the love I had for Matt. I had to focus on what I would do if I lost someone I was that close to: what parts of them I miss most, what would I do if I could see them one more time, what would I say, what would I do to keep them near me. Allowing myself to investigate Olivia’s love for Matt allowed me to maintain a healthy distance from my disease.

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I'm so proud that you have done Feed, it covers such an important issue. What is the your favourite thing about this movie? I love you so much ❤

Thank you! I’m really proud of it as well. I think my favorite part about Feed is that it speaks about ED’s in an (hopefully) unexpected way. A lot of people in the community of recovery that I spoke to felt misunderstood (I did as well) by the media, my film and just by the majority of people (in general) who believe that having an ED is vain, or those magazines that sensationalize a “SKINNY SCARE!” when the truth is that those suffering from ED’s aren’t just on a diet, or vain, they are suffering from a mental illness that is brutalizing and can be fatal. And the reasons Ed’s manifest in a person are widely different from person to person, and may have nothing to do with physical appearance…they are so much more complicated than that.

I love that Feed offers a different point of view and hopefully challenges people expectations of what it might be like to have an ED.

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**BlondieLeigh** · 07-29-2017, 12:55 PM

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Why Feed is not just a portrayal of eating disorders

It seems that lately, there are many films and television shows which address the variant issue of mental health.

The latest to add this ever-growing pool is Feed - a movie crafted from Troian Bellisario’s own personal experience with an eating disorder.

Feed tells the story of Olivia Grey (Bellisario), a seemingly perfect teenager with high grades and a relatively active social life. Soon, a tradgey turns her world upside down, coming in the form of a car accident that kills her twin brother (Tom Felton). As a result, we watch as Olivia’s health, both mental and physical, slowly degrades at the hands of an unchecked eating disorder.

What makes this film different from others confronting the same topic is its ability to look past the obvious reasons why people fall into an eating disorder. Throughout the film there is no mention of calorie counting or body image. What we discover instead is the sheer diversity of mental health conditions, and how they cannot be categorised simply. Feed has the ability to touch upon and bring to light the various experiences and symptoms associated with mental illnesses, helping the wider world to understand what a sufferer may go through on a daily basis. Feed is not just a movie about eating disorders.

Throughout the film, Tom Felton personifies the inner voice associated with multiple mental health conditions, including but not limited to: eating disorders, depression, anxiety and bipolar disorder. It is that voice which can be kind and understanding yet change on a dime to make you feel guilty for your actions, tell you to walk away from those closest to you, to lie, to act normal though there is something horrific happening to you.

It’s that voice which controls and dominates your life, it’s the voice which sent Olivia spiralling into ill health. The personification of this voice provides a basis for understanding why people fall victim to mental health disorders, few people who have not experienced such a condition can understand the damaging effects it can have. It also adds depth and a level of reality to the condition, allowing the viewer to comprehend and imagine themselves in Olivia's shoes.

The identification of various symptoms that come with eating disorders in Feed further bring to light the apparent causes. Stereotypically, eating disorders are associated with body image and the desire to look more appealing, however Feed takes a different and increasingly relevant stance on the causes of mental health conditions.

As a film, it is a symbol of how society is demanding perfection from its youth. A recent Guardian article examined the reasons behind various mental health issues amongst university students, where the need for excellence is driven by financial and social factors. Not to mention the expectations placed upon students by the work sector, we live in a society where graduating with a 2:2 is not enough. We need to have the best grades to get into the best jobs.

Olivia does not get her eating disorder because she has a perception of how she should look, she simply forgoes eating to grant her time to work towards an idealistic vision of perfection. Her teacher makes her apply for 20 colleges, her father criticises her for not running to the top of the hill, her family don't exactly praise her on being predicted to get Valedictorian.

Rather, all of this was expected of her - she must be perfect otherwise she would not be successful. Nothing further enforces this than later in the film where her teacher pressures Olivia to make her grades up, just one month after her brother’s death. In light of loss and tragedy: she must maintain perfection.

Sacrificing something from your life in the name of perfection is what triggers many mental health conditions in both adults and young people. Whether sacrificing food, sleep, or social acts, this sacrifice can send someone on a downwards spiral. Feed brings to light that before and during many mental illnesses there is a form of withdrawal, often encouraged by an event or some form of demand. In this case, the demand for perfectionism is shown by forcing the protagonist beyond their limits, and it's not until she becomes sick that these visions and ideologies are considered to be wrong.

The causes and symptoms behind eating disorders are diverse and Feed is brilliant at showing just that, however a wider context will make you realise that Feed is not just a portrayal of eating disorders. It is a portrayal of how seemingly little we may know about what mental health conditions can do to those closest to us, and how little society really helps.

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**Summer Falls** · 07-30-2017, 06:39 AM

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Originally Posted by Samanthamckenny (View Post)

It was about $15 pre-tax when I bought it off iTunes. Like $14.99? My iPad won't tell me because I've already paid for it. I definitely recommend it if you liked "To the Bone". Troian and Tom both do an incredible job and it was very well written (props to Troian).

thank you for that .. i do have itunes i just need to remeber the log in details

i love tom he is so fantastic

**BlondieLeigh** · 07-31-2017, 12:33 PM

He is

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t2727 · 07-31-2017, 12:36 PM

She's so good at playing tortured characters.


Fan Forum > Female Celebrities > Troian Bellisario > Olivia Grey {Feed} #1: Even their dreams are connected. SPOILERS