WARNING: Contains spoilers of the film A Star Is Born.
Bradley Cooper, Lady Gaga, rock & roll and tinnitus. Yesss. We love having a new film in the box-office where the leading actor is a tinnitus sufferer. But…is it realistic? Can you identify with the way in which Cooper’s character is faced with these intolerable sounds? Find out how credible A Star is Born is, where even Cooper’s real-life ear specialist stars.
The latest box-office hit in which Cooper and Lady Gaga reveal the reality of millions of people who are afflicted by tinnitus. It is a constant ringing sound in the ear that never stops. Officially, no cure exists and it has caused immense distress to 10% of the world’s population.
The film is Cooper’s debut as a director and a modern adaptation of A Star is Born, of which there are 3 previous versions of the same title and plot.
That is, technically a remake of a remake of a remake. (We got you, Cooper. It has also happened that I want to change what I have seen others do. Like some tinnitus blogs.)
And the difference from the three previous versions?:
The protagonist is a tinnitus victim.
The film tells the story of Jackson Maine (Bradley Cooper), a famous rock singer plagued by alcohol, drug addiction and a terrible ringing in his ears.
Jackson meets an aspiring singer (Lady Gaga), with whom he falls in love and who becomes an overnight sensation.
But while her career rockets, Jackson begins to be confronted by his demons and his career starts going into a tailspin.
Anyone can begin to suffer from tinnitus for many reasons, but noise is one of the principal causes. Many musicians, like Jackson, can suffer from it.
(And it’s not just the noise of a concert, it can also be the noise in a bar or simply the noise from road works. You have been warned!)
Also read:
30 celebrities who suffer from tinnitus, just like you
Which ginkgo biloba works with your tinnitus [Scientifically proven 2019]
10 myths about tinnitus that you have heard (again and again)
Tinnitus from the first scene
The film starts with a high-impact scene:
Jackson playing the guitar at his concert with the volume turned up to the maximum, in front of thousands of screaming fans in a packed-out arena.
But, as the concert ends, the rockstar gets into his limousine, looking like death. And…
“Piiiiiiiii”
Sound familiar?
A piercing sound floods the scene, letting the viewer know that we are dealing with tinnitus here.
Jackson’s solution?
He downs a bottle of gin he finds in the seat pocket and tells the driver to take him to the first bar they come across.
And it is none other than the one where Ally (Lady Gaga) is. Ally sings a breathtaking version of La Vie en Rose and Jackson falls head over heels.
The scene is a nod to how Gaga and Cooper met in real life: she was singing La Vie en Rose in young millionaire Sean Parker’s courtyard (creator of Napster and discoverer of Facebook). The next day, Cooper showed up at Gaga’s house to offer her the role.
That night, Jackson and Ally fall in love and live happily ever after.
From this juncture, as the BBC film critic Nicholas Barber said, the film turns into the story of Cinderella, where Cooper is both the Fairy Godmother and Prince Charming at the same time, taking the curtain call with Ally while barely knowing her and even sending private jets to pick her up. All very believable things.
The only blot on the horizon is Jackson’s alcoholism and, maybe, his tinnitus.
Throughout the film, you can see Jackson tormented by the ringing in his ears and having regular ear check-ups.
His theory is that he got tinnitus as a child when putting his head against his father’s old record player.
But his older brother, and manager, tells him:
—Surely years of playing rock music is more likely…
In one of the scenes, his brother asks him to use earplugs to protect his ears while playing.
—You won’t recover what you have lost. But it’s the only way of protecting what you have left.
These special ear-plugs allow musicians, as well as fans, attend concerts without damaging their ears. At the same time, they can still hear voices and instruments.
But, like all self-respecting rebels, Jackson refuses.
Cooper’s real-life ear specialist’s cameo
In one of the scenes, Cooper has to do hearing tests.
But he doesn’t want just any actor playing the doctor.
He wants a real one.
So, he casts his own real-life ear specialist!
It involves Dr. William Slattery, president of House Ear Clinic who, in a recent interview, detailed how he was offered the chance to film with the stars.
“Cooper called me and said ‘Hey. Can you help me? I’m thinking of putting together a scene where a doctor does hearing tests on me and I was thinking why don’t you come and do it?’ And I said: ‘Alright, how do we do it?’”
In less than a week the, until that time anonymous, ear specialist was on set in idyllic Palm Springs, with his script learned by heart.
But, to his surprise, Cooper told him to ignore the script and to simply improvise.
“Ah, don’t worry, we’ll improvise this scene. You know this subject better than any screenwriter, so we trust you to cut it”, Cooper said.
And that’s what they did.
This doesn’t happen every day. Dr. Slattery had no previous experience as an actor. In fact, he said:
“As a child, I was one of those kids who was the tree in the school play, so I had zero experience.”
And when asked by journalists if he would act again, he was very clear:
“I loved the experience, but my first role was with two superstars like Cooper and Gaga. My career can only go downhill from here, so I’d better stop now.”
There are no flies on him.
The natural question is:
Why does Bradley Cooper have an ear specialist in real life anyway? Does he have tinnitus too and do we have to add him to our exclusive list?
The rookie director didn’t want to confirm that he suffered ringing in his ears in real life, but judging by the way he describes tinnitus in the film, I wouldn’t bet my life savings on a yes.
Also read:
The 12 tinnitus treatments I personally tested (what works?)
Chinese Medicine: the only method that has truly reduced my tinnitus (in a week)
The awful moment every tinnitus patient has lived once
But there is a moment in the film that restores the soul of all those who suffer from this God-awful condition:
At the end of the film, Jackson’s brother says to him, with the delicate touch of a sledgehammer, that “tinnitus has no cure.”
Sound familiar?
Jackson’s brother: —Is there a cure?
Jackson: —Well, you know, right?
Jackson’s brother: —I don’t know what you’re talking about…
Jackson: —About tinnitus.
Jackson’s brother: —Tinnitus, ‘tinnaitus’, or whatever it’s called, has no cure. can’t be fixed.
Jackson: —I hear this tone…a ringing…
This is the coldness or lack of empathy with which tinnitus patients live daily, hearing “there’s no cure” again and again.
As well as not being entirely true (thousands of patients have found a cure through Chinese Medicine) this tough sentence would destroy the morale of even the Care Bears.
Can we stop this atrocity and start the treat tinnitus patients with the humanity we deserve?
Tinnitus in cinema is a trendy resource
But A Star is Born is not the first film to touch on the subject.
Movies like Cop Land (Robert De Niro) and Baby Driver (Kevin Spacey) decided that their protagonists were also tinnitus victims.
And not just that.
At least 3 or 4 movies per year use the ‘tinnitus effect’ to describe what the ear suffers during an explosion.
You only need to glance at the graphic below to get an idea of how Hollywood loves to use the ‘Piiiiiiii‘ in the scenes after an explosion.
For us, the more films the better. But the film industry still has quite a way to go before it can show the awful reality of suffering a constant ringing that cannot be escaped.
Moral of the story
When Cooper’s ear specialist saw the script of A Star is Born, he said it seemed “very precise” to him.
And the American Tinnitus Association has declared in its press release that the film has achieved “a perfect portrayal of how someone can be badly affected by tinnitus”.
But you who suffer from it every day know that it’s not like that:
(Suck-ups have always been around).
Although seeing Cooper and Gaga singing together is a treat, if you suffer from severe tinnitus like me, you know that this film does not represent us.
Not even once do you see the protagonist:
• Googling means of relief from ringing in his ears
• Spending sleepless nights staring at the ceiling
• Talking about tinnitus with his partner
We’d like it if you made films where you talk about tinnitus. Then, you could explain to the world how we feel.
But it’s not enough.
We want more.
We want a film that reflects the torture we live through, how unconsidered we feel and the coldness we feel when we hear “there is no cure”.
References
- American Tinnitus Association, A Star is Born Shows How Serious Tinnitus Can Be (2018).
- Audiology Worldnews, Tinnitus depiction in Hollywood movie (2018).
- Refinery29, A Star Is Born Shows How Serious Tinnitus Can Be (2018).
- The Cut, Bradley Cooper’s Ear Doctor Tells Us How He Was Cast in A Star Is Born (2018).
- BBC, Fim Review: A Star Is Born (2018).
- Warner Bros. Pictures España, Ha Nacido Una Estrella – Tráiler Oficial (2018).
- IMDb, Baby Driver (2017).
- The Cine-Files, Tinnitus Trope in feature films (2015).
- IMDb, Cop Land (1997).
Leave a Reply