A Moving Film About Anxiety, Depression, and Real Pain

Epigenetics is an area of growing interest among therapists, particularly those inclined to explore the historical roots of a client’s presenting challenges. Epigenetics is the study of how the environment and other factors can change the way that genes are expressed. The field raises profound questions about how repeated, severe traumatic experiences may modify genetic expression, potentially leading to intergenerational legacies of mood disorders such as anxiety and depression. How to untangle the impact of modified genetic expression from the painful relational dynamics that can unfold in trauma's aftermath is an ongoing question.

Jesse Eisenberg’s A Real Pain is a moving exploration of inherited trauma and family bonds. Nominated for two Academy Awards—Best Original Screenplay (Eisenberg) and Best Supporting Actor (Kieran Culkin)—the film follows two cousins on a journey through Poland as they grapple with their late grandmother’s experience as a Holocaust survivor.

David (Eisenberg) and Benji (Culkin), once inseparable, have drifted apart. David has settled into a relatively stable life with a career, a wife, and a young son, while Benji, aimless and deeply isolated, arrives at the airport hours early just to people-watch. He has nothing better to do. Their journey, part of a Holocaust-focused tour, takes them to war memorials, concentration camps, and their grandmother’s childhood home, forcing them to confront their own identities and the weight of intergenerational trauma.

Benji’s rebellious, charismatic outbursts contrast sharply with David’s anxious, buttoned-up demeanor. Benji clashes with the tour guide when he talks too much, and berates fellow travelers for reclining too comfortably in the first-class car on a train to Lublin. David, meanwhile, nervously cringes at Benji’s lack of restraint. As the trip unfolds, the film subtly questions whether their struggles—Benji’s depression, David’s anxiety—stem from personal circumstances, family dynamics, or the inherited scars of their grandmother’s improbable survival.

Eisenberg’s insightful, compelling, and surprisingly humorous script ensures that the film never feels overly bleak. The chemistry between Eisenberg and Culkin seems authentic, their bickering laced with a genuine, sometimes heart-wrenching intimacy. Culkin notably delivers a performance that is both deeply moving and darkly funny, capturing Benji’s magnetic yet self-destructive energy. He recently won the Golden Globe and BAFTA awards for best supporting actor.

The film does not attempt to diagnose its characters, instead allowing their real pain to surface naturally through raw emotion, conversations, and humor. Nevertheless, Benji and David’s parallel struggles with depression and anxiety are brutal and clear. Their neurotic approach to life frames each scene. The plot never pinpoints the precise roots of Benji's and David’s pain—intergenerational, relational, epigenetic, or some combination of three. Instead, the characters movingly demonstrate that the legacy of the Holocaust resides within them both, shaping their struggles and weighing on their psyches.

With A Real Pain, Eisenberg crafts an honest, introspective road trip that resonates long after the closing scene back at the airport where it all began. It’s a deeply personal meditation on grief, identity, and the echoes of history—told with humor, tenderness, and an unflinching honesty that makes it one of the year’s most important and affecting films.