Wrenching death of a comedian
Robin’s Wish
Cast: Robin Williams, Susan Schneider Williams, Shawn Levy, John R. Montgomery Director: Tylor Norwood
Duration: 1 h 17 m Available: Amazon Prime, itunes, Google Play
In Robin’s Wish, a documentary about the last days of Robin Williams, the comedian’s widow, Susan Schneider Williams, recalls one of the first times that she could tell something was off.
Robin called her from Vancouver, where he was shooting the third Night at the Museum film, and he was having a panic attack because he couldn’t remember his lines. Shawn Levy, director, recalls Robin saying, “I don’t know what’s going on. I’m not me anymore.” His mind, says Levy, “was not firing at the same speed. That spark was diminished.”
Robin’s Wish, which deals with the slow creep of Williams’ deterioration during the final months, is a documentary that’s honest and scary, wrenching and moving.
When Williams committed suicide, on Aug. 11, 2014, it was only about six months into his ordeal. He was diagnosed with Parkinson’s. He asked his doctor, “Do I have Alzheimer’s? Do I have dementia? Am I schizophrenic?” He felt himself slipping away.
His autopsy revealed Lewy body dementia, a degenerative condition similar to Alzheimer’s, though it takes hold more quickly. Essentially, the neurons degenerate, a syndrome that builds until it sweeps across the brain stem, affecting every aspect of experience: sleep, mood, cognition. The disease becomes progressively irreversible, unstoppable and is fatal. Schneider Williams says that “If we’d had the accurate diagnosis of Lewy body dementia, that alone would have given him some peace.”
The film celebrates who Williams was: the free-associative genius with the mind of a prankish computer, the vulnerable middle-aged man who had been through addiction and divorce and tabloid fame, and who met Schneider Williams at an Apple Store.
They bonded over many things, and Robin’s Wish presents us with a compelling vision of their marriage — we see photographs of the private scruffy Robin, who has never looked like a more radiantly ordinary person.
One of his neighbours tells how Williams, in the last months, showed up at his house, asking if he could look at the boats through the back window, and he just stared out that window, frozen, for 10 minutes. If Robin’s Wish has an agenda, it’s to clear the air of innuendo and to capture the devastation Lewy body dementia can cause. In that sense, the film is a warning and a testament to what a glorious blinding light of a human being he was.