The Chemicals that Flood the Brains and Hearts of Young People: A Review of Chemical Hearts

 

Released on Amazon Prime, Chemical Hearts is a new teen movie based on the book 'Our Chemical Hearts,' by Krystal Sutherland. Lili Reinhart - who is best known as Betty Cooper on Netflix's Riverdale, stars as Grace Town opposite Austin Abrams', Henry Page. New high school transfer student, Grace, finds a new passion when she joins the school paper. It is there that wannabe writer Henry, develops a fondness for the mysterious newcomer. 

More than just your average teen love story, the film focuses on the emotional pain of heartbreak, grief and loss as these two youngsters navigate the limbo between teenage and adulthood. Both Henry and Grace experience their own struggles throughout the film, with the movie topic highlighting how the teenage brain "...is flushed with chemicals." 

Henry Page learns to cope with the chemicals of love and heartbreak, with his sister explaining how "...love is a chemical reaction that comes and goes. So is heartbreak. Your brain adjusts and your body chemistry changes back to normal." 

Grace Town, however, is on her own spiralling journey, grieving the loss of her late boyfriend, Dominic. The story of her grief and depression is very much represented in a realistic and relatable way, with her grief manifesting in the forms of anger, frustration, and guilt. The storyline is portrayed beautifully by the powerful and tragic performance that Reinhart brings to the role - with the character experiencing contrasting chemicals of loss and heartache.

According to the Henry Ford Health System (2018), "when your grieving, a flood of neurochemicals and hormones dance around in your head and there can be a disruption in hormones that results in specific symptoms such as disturbed sleep, loss of appetite, fatigue and anxiety" (Dr. Phillips). 

This is very much a story of two teenagers experiencing two different chemical reactions at the same time. 

 

What makes this film different from any other teenage love story, is that it points out the pain of being a teenager and first time experiences. It isn't an ordinary love story, but a story of two teenagers colliding amidst their own, personal evolution's - during a time when both their brains and hearts are brimming with new chemicals. 

It's a unique and meaningful movie; the story not ending with the young lovers hooking up, but with them maturely parting ways - Grace healing and forgiving herself, and Henry learning what it means to love. 

  

It certainly resembles 'All the Bright Places' - a film adapted from the novel by Jennifer Niven. The story also carries the same message - love between two people is important for healing, but so is self-love. Teenage films that focus on this, is what the young generation needs most because as Grace Town says, "being young is so painful, it's almost too much to feel."