One of the main characters of the film, Dede Cheung, is an opioid addict.
What I tried to do with this character and story is deeply personal to me (speaking from experience). Her story in the film is about her struggle in recovery. Lots of stories out there have been told about addiction already – about the life of a person in the throes of addiction – and in film and television at times showing the drug use at times has unintentionally glorified it, elevated “heroin chic” to high art.
But those who struggle with addiction, and who have loved ones who are addicted know that it’s anything but. The real struggle is in the road to recovery.
Loving an addict will break your heart.
And while loving an addict won’t guarantee to keep them clean, loving them for who they are, especially when they fall down, is the best chance they got to stay clean.
At times blaming the addict for being in denial, disappearing, or relapsing is understandable – we see our loved one as a smart and strong person, and yet why are they so dumb to have fallen off the wagon? It’s the rationale that we can tell ourselves in those moments of fury and frustration.
But know that the addict feels the same way too. The addict more often than not gets high alone. They hate themselves more than you hate them for it. When they are drinking, snorting or shooting up, there is often a deep sense of shame. It’s like the drug ends up becoming a wedge that severs you into two – separating your best self from your worst self, with your best self in agony and shame at what your worst self is doing to the both of you.
Addicts get high alone. But they recover best with others.
Be that other person. Because you are who they need the most.