Ode to Joy

Friday, August 9 - Tuesday, August 20, 2019

How does a man who is—literally—paralyzed by happiness find love? Thanks to a condition called cataplexy—a rare disorder that causes him to lose control of his muscles whenever he is overcome by strong emotion, particularly joy—Brooklyn librarian Charlie (Martin Freeman) has learned to carefully edit all delight-triggering people, places, and events out of his life. Family weddings, cute babies, adorable puppies, and, yes, romance are all fraught with peril in Charlie’s carefully managed world. But when the beautiful, spontaneous Francesca (Morena Baccarin) falls for him, the risk-averse Charlie finds himself at a crossroads: suppress his feelings of attraction, or take a chance and let love in? Based on a true story originally featured on This American Life, Ode to Joy is a hilarious and touching look at what happens when we stop being afraid and let ourselves truly live.

Official selection: Annapolis Film Festival; RiverRun Int’l Film Festival; Dallas Film Festival

• Country USA
• Running Time 98 minutes
• Distributor IFC in Theatres, LLC
• Director Jason Winer
• Writer Max Werner
• Cast Martin Freeman, Morena Baccarin, Melissa Rauch, Jake Lacy, Shannon Woodward, Adam Shapiro
• Accessibility Assistive Listening, Closed Captioning, T-Coil

IFC Center does not generally provide advisories about subject matter or potentially triggering content in films, as sensitivities vary from person to person. In addition to the synopses, trailers and other links on our website, further information about content and age-appropriateness for specific films can be found on Common Sense Media, IMDb and DoesTheDogDie.com as well as through general internet searches.