Feeling academically incapable because of a struggling mental health is a common experience for many students. After being placed on academic probation by her college, Clemence (Alex Heller), has to move back into her parents’ house. The film follows Clemence’s life after she’s diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

The film’s primary focus is on Clemence’s mental illness. The movie opens with Clemence tormenting her college roommate and continues throughout the movie. The scenes of her with her psychiatrist and therapist make it seem like the cause of her behavior is due to her bipolar disorder. But, she would be a terrible person regardless of her diagnosis. With this being the focal point of the film, it becomes difficult to differentiate her foul behavior from the diagnosis of her bipolar disorder.  This gives a poor connection between her actions as an individual and common behaviors of someone with bipolar. 

When ignoring her appalling behavior, the movie’s representation of the mental illness is realistic. Clemence’s mania and depression is reflective of those with the same diagnosis. However, when she explains the diagnosis to her family, it feels too quirky to be genuine. The script is well written and covers the variety of impulsive behaviors in a way that does not feel overexaggerated.

The attention to detail within the script is to be appreciated. After first being given adderall by Ashik (Rajeev Jacob), she continues taking it despite being on other medications which halts the effects from them. The example of cross-medicating is self-destructive and is a display of something real. Heller is able to portray the physical and mental effects of this well and realistically.

Clemence’s sister, Carlin (Emily Robinson), is the know-it-all of the family and often worries about her academic standing. She is pictured crying over her ACT score, complaining about how it will deter her from getting into any school of honor. While the realistic representation of this is appreciated, it consumes her entire character and that is all she becomes. She has no discernable personality separate from her academics and her character is almost useless to the storyline. The writing of this could have improved from giving her characteristics that can define her as a person in any way that isn’t academically.

The cinematography within the film is clearly meant to make the movie feel more realistic- not so much a studio film but a real representation of  Clemence’s life. This movie has a sloppy, unprofessional feel due to the fact that many of the shots are filmed by hand. This is the biggest production of Full Spectrum Features’ and their seventh overall. There is still much progress for the company to make and hopefully gain a bigger audience for themselves while improving their quality.

The last thirty minutes of the film are rather confusing, randomly cutting to pieces ahead in the future, after Clemence and her siblings are told about their mother Sherri’s (J. Smith-Cameron), breast cancer. The intentions are meant to be symbolic of Clemence’s and Sherri’s recovery from their respective situations, but it takes more thought than one would invest when watching a movie. Clemence grows closer with her siblings and she is invited back to her college while Sherri continues running her store despite the cancer. It is unclear what the time frame and purpose of this is. There is no build up to it and only provides confusion.

The last thirty minutes of the film are rather confusing, randomly cutting to pieces ahead in the future, after Clemence and her siblings are told about their mother Sherri’s (J. Smith-Cameron), breast cancer. The symbolic intentions take more thought than one would invest when watching a movie. The transitions between each scene could improve from a caption describing a time skip. Without this, the symbolism becomes useless and a confusing mess that no one wants to invest more time into.

“The Year Between” is an interesting production with a confusing purpose. There is no discernable conflict, unless you count Clemence’s bipolar disorder to be that. There is no real falling action of the film and it could continue forever if it did not cut to Clemence and Sherri’s progress. The display of bipolar disorder is realistic but poorly separates it from Clemence’s behavior. This movie is entertaining but close to useless. It has much room for improvement and should have had more thought behind it before putting it into production and releasing it.