Written and directed by Stephen Chbosky, The Perks Of Being A Wallflower is a 2012 coming-of-age film about mental health, trauma, friendship, and love. The film opens with Charlie (Logan Lerman) writing a letter to a mysterious person, talking about his friend’s suicide, and High School freshman year.
The film explores Charlie’s struggles with his, unaware situation, ‘post-traumatic stress disorder,’ as he goes through High School with zero friends to all the way being part of a group of friends whom he can rely on.
On the surface, “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” is a romantic drama about a boy who suffers a complete mental breakdown due to traumatic events from his childhood, which leaves him alone. Little did he know that his time in High School would change his life.
The Perks Of Being A Wallflower (2012) Plot Summary & Movie Synopsis:
Charlie experienced mental trauma such as depression, bullying, abuse, loneliness, and shyness at a very young age, making his life completely miserable. He loses happiness until he meets Partick (Ezra Miller) and Sam (Emma Watson) during the football game. Sam and Patrick are the only seniors from his High School who later introduces Charlie to their friends.
As the story progresses, we get a better picture of Charlie’s life, “how the traumas of his past continue to hunt him to this day.” His life is nothing short of a roller coaster, filled with lots of up and down moments.
Thanks to Sam and Patrick, who came as a ray of hope in his life, encouraging him to participate more. As a result, Charlie became the person he always wanted to be and started working on things he had dreamed about. He even conquered his greatest fear.
How Do Charlie, Sam, And Partick Become Friends?
Later that night, Charlie goes to see the football match. There, he comes across an energetic atmosphere, where everyone is pretty excited about the game, especially to see Brad (Johnny Simmons) in action.
While watching the game, he meets Patrick and Sam, the two seniors from his High School. They had also come to watch the game, just like everyone else. After the game, Sam and Patrick took Charlie to a restaurant to celebrate the victory.
To learn more about Charlie, Sam asks him about his favorite bands. This was the first time in ages that Charlie talked so freely with anyone other than his family. He told Sam about his favorite band, his aunt Helen, and how he wished to see them again.
After the Homecoming dance, Sam and Patrick took him to Bob’s (Adam Hagenbuch) house for the party. Patrick introduces his new friends to Mary Elizabeth (Mae Whitman) and Alice (Erin Wilhelmi) and later leaves him with them. Little did Patrick know that his friends let Charlie get stoned. However, after getting to know his past, Patrick and Sam accept him as their new friend and the new Wallflower to their group.
What Does Charlie Reveal About Aunt Helen?
While Charlie talks so much about his aunt Helen throughout the film, like how she buys two different gifts on his birthday, he shares his part of the story, in which he considers himself responsible for the accident of Aunt Helen that killed her. He writes in the letter that his aunt Helen went outside to buy the gift for his birthday, but unfortunately, she met with an accident that took her life. Before Charlie could understand a thing, he found himself in the hospital suffering from ‘Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.’
Charlie writes that his aunt Helen was kind and treated him like his child. However, after the accident, Charlie feels responsible for Aunt Helen’s death, but his family tells a different story. They try to cheer him up and wish him to be normal again. However, Charlie doesn’t get over from his Aunt Helen. Charlie even sees flashbacks from the time of his Aunt Helen’s accident, and whenever that happens, he finds himself in the hospital bed. However, as time goes by, Charlie begins to understand himself better.
What Has Aunt Helen Done To Charlie?
Every Saturday — when Charlie’s parents went to the other parent’s house for a party, Aunt Helen was in charge of the house. She was the appointed babysitter for Charlie, Candace (Nina Dobrev), and Chris (Zane Holtz). Unlike their parents, Aunt Helen wasn’t strict and let them watch the ‘Saturday Night Live’ without trouble. Moreover, his Aunt was one of the few who bought two different gifts for him, one for Christmas Eve and the other for his birthday.
Charlie cannot control his emotions during the second half after Sam leaves for college. Later that night, on the way home, Charlie has a flashback of his Aunt Helen touching him in appropriate places like his thigh, just as Sam did the night before. Before he blackouts from the panic attack, Charlie calls his sister’s phone, telling her that he feels responsible for the death of Aunt Helen, which is when she understands that Charlie is in trouble and calls the police.
By the time Charlie blacked out from the panic, police arrived, and the next he found himself in the hospital. After talking to Charlie’s psychiatrist, his parent discovered that his Aunt Helen sexually abused him throughout his childhood, responsible for the mental condition Charlie has now.
The Perks Of Being A Wallflower (2012) Movie Ending Explained:
The film concludes with Sam and Patrick visiting Charlie in his place, taking him to their favorite restaurant. Later, in the final moments, Sam, Patrick, and Charlie drive in Sam’s pickup truck to the same tunnel they visited when they first became friends. However, this time, Charlie was the one who climbed the top, spread his arms, and enjoyed the moment.
