I am opening this topic because it seemed absurd to me not to comment on the tragic passing of a great figure of cinema and beyond. Perhaps because I discovered Robin Williams as a child in London watching the film Mrs. Doubtfire in the original language, my first film in the original language, and from then on I never missed even one film from his long series that has accompanied me from childhood until today; but inside me, I feel a deep sense of bitterness. I will remember him forever as a great man, brilliant and with a profound artistic sense. Leaving us the way he did makes me think that certain gestures can be made by men of infinite intelligence (who reflect on time, on this life of infinitely small duration compared to the whole, on suffering, on feelings, and on the problems surrounding them) or of infinite stupidity (who make these gestures because they believe they are proving something as if they could then observe people's reactions); it is evident that he falls into the first category. RIP...
He had certainly "noticed" long ago how cold the environment he was part of could be. Perhaps, from what has been written and what I have read (but the truth will never be known, as in these cases), having to earn a living by playing roles that were not compliant with his being made the cup overflow, not so much for the money; the reasons are surely more intimate and heavy (I know something about that, otherwise I wouldn't talk about it). I think that no one ever truly knows themselves or others; conversely, others can never know us 100%, unless one expresses everything unconditionally, but even in that case, it is the person living a particular situation or condition who knows (if they know how to interpret their own sensations, emotions, and feelings) what they feel.
I should preface this: what I am about to write is intended as a meditation on what you have just written, and I do not want it to be understood in any other way.
I think that those who decide to commit suicide can do so for many reasons that lie outside of their intelligence or their stupidity. Someone who decides to commit suicide is a person experiencing many conflicting feelings and who, all things considered, thinks that life is no longer worth living. It is the ultimate act of liberality, of free will, to which a human being can aspire and, even for this reason—but not only for this—it deserves the highest respect from those who remain.
When someone like Robert Williams commits suicide, for those who remain and for those who admired him and enjoyed his work, a profound sense of emptiness remains because, somewhat selfishly, one thinks that he could have still given us so much.
Everything is true, but I was reading just today about his financial problems. Frankly, someone who brought home the money he earned, I just don't understand him. Forgive me if I seem petty.
Incredible departure of a very intelligent man endowed with perhaps a unique comic talent who was also able to ironize about his condition and human weakness. An immeasurable loss.
Actor Robin Williams has died, he was depressed; Abate... IT APPEARS to be a suicide. After Philip Seymour Hoffman, who passed away last February, I believe American Cinema and Theater are losing their two best jewels. Shocking news.
