Movie Review: The Evolving Image of High-Functioning Autism in “The Accountant”

Thursday, April 3, 2025.

In The Accountant (2016), Ben Affleck portrays Christian Wolff, a forensic accountant with a formidable past and a mind tuned to mathematical precision.

The film markets itself as a high-octane thriller, but beneath the shootouts and spreadsheets lies a more compelling, if at times muddled, narrative: one about trauma, neurodiversity, and the ways cinema continues to struggle—and occasionally succeed—in representing high-functioning autism.

While Wolff's character walks a fine line between savant and sociopath, he is also a symbolic figure of a cultural moment in which autism is increasingly visible in public discourse and artistic portrayals.

The film is neither a triumph nor a failure of representation; rather, it is a case study in the cinematic evolution of neurodiversity in the shadow of trauma.

High-Functioning Autism or Trauma Adaptation? A Clinician’s Dilemma

The core tension in The Accountant is not merely narrative—it is diagnostic.

Christian Wolff’s behaviors include a strict adherence to routine, heightened sensory sensitivity, difficulties with social communication, and an exceptional facility with numbers and pattern recognition.

These traits align with what was formerly known as Asperger’s Syndrome, now understood within the broader diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in the DSM-5 (American Psychiatric Association, 2013).

But complicating matters is Wolff's history of early developmental trauma. Flashbacks reveal an emotionally absent mother and a rigid, militaristic father who imposed violent “training” in lieu of emotional attunement.

The literature on trauma and its impact on child development shows us that early attachment rupture—particularly when combined with chronic stress—can produce adaptations that mirror autistic traits (Van der Kolk, 2014).

Social withdrawal, affect regulation difficulties, and a preference for solitary, structured activities are all adaptive strategies common in complex developmental trauma (Courtois & Ford, 2009).

This overlap—what some clinicians refer to as a "trauma-autism diagnostic gray zone"—challenges rigid dichotomies. As Hull et al. (2021) note, folks with autism often experience trauma differently due to sensory sensitivities and social vulnerabilities, which in turn can complicate both the clinical picture and therapeutic approach.

The Cinematic Myth of the Autistic Superhero

The Accountant fits squarely within a popular cinematic trend: the portrayal of neurodivergent protagonists as either savants or emotionless geniuses with extraordinary capabilities.

This trope, rooted in films like Rain Man (1988) and A Beautiful Mind (2001), often conflates autism with genius, and intelligence with social detachment.

But as scholars such as Draaisma (2009) and Murray (2008) have pointed out, these portrayals can both elevate and distort public understanding of autism.

They privilege a narrow and often male-coded image of high-functioning autism—white, stoic, gifted in STEM—while erasing the spectrum’s breadth, especially the experiences of women, nonbinary people, and those with co-occurring intellectual disabilities or mental health conditions.

In recent years, the cinematic landscape has attempted to shift. Television shows like Atypical and Everything’s Gonna Be Okay have introduced more emotionally complex, socially embedded portrayals of neurodivergent characters.

Yet The Accountant, with its action-hero framing, arguably reverts to an older, more isolating paradigm: one where neurodivergence is stylized, not fully humanized.

Reinforcing or Resisting the Myth of Emotional Inaccessibility?

Affleck's performance is emotionally muted, bordering on flattened.

For some, this reads as accurate depiction; for others, it reinforces harmful stereotypes of autistic people as lacking empathy or relational capacity. In truth, recent research has pushed back strongly against this stereotype.

Autistic folks are not devoid of empathy—they often experience a different style of emotional processing, particularly in environments not attuned to their communication needs (Milton, 2012).

Moreover, the concept of “double empathy”—the idea that neurotypical and autistic people often misunderstand each other, rather than the autistic person simply lacking social skill—offers a more balanced, relational view of communication struggles (Milton, 2012; Crompton et al., 2020).

The film, unfortunately, misses the opportunity to show this reciprocal misunderstanding. Instead, Wolff’s interactions are filtered through tropes of awkward charm and reluctant violence, rather than genuine moments of connection or mutual understanding.

Can Violence Be a Coping Mechanism? The Seduction of Catharsis in Trauma Narratives

One of the most troubling elements of The Accountant is its implicit suggestion that violence is not only acceptable, but therapeutic.

Christian's acts of extreme brutality are depicted as part of his routine—calculated, emotionally contained, even satisfying. This reflects a broader cinematic problem: the glamorization of trauma through revenge narratives.

But in the clinical literature, survivors of developmental trauma often experience hypervigilance, aggression, and emotional numbing as maladaptive coping strategies rather than empowerment (van der Kolk, 2014). The “stoic killer” fantasy may sell tickets, but it tells a lie about how trauma actually plays out in the nervous system and in relationships.

More accurate—and far more painful—is the portrayal of trauma as disconnection: from one’s own body, from others, and from meaning.

While Wolff’s isolation is presented as self-selected, trauma researchers emphasize that disconnection is often a consequence of survival strategies encoded in the brainstem and limbic system long before conscious choice is possible (Siegel, 2012).

In this way, The Accountant flirts with truth but recoils from it. It gestures toward pain but resolves it through gunfire.

The Road Not Taken: Toward More Nuanced Neurodiverse Protagonists

The Accountant does represent progress in certain ways.

Christian Wolff is not a side character, comic relief, or helpless savant.

He is the protagonist—resourceful, complex, and arguably heroic. But he is also a deeply lonely man whose autism and trauma are never truly addressed, only stylized.

What’s missing is what most people with autism and trauma alike seek: understanding, connection, and agency over their own narratives. The cinematic language of neurodiversity is still being written. For now, The Accountant is part of a transitional canon—one foot in stereotype, one foot in aspiration.

Final Thoughts: The Ledger Remains Open

The Accountant invites us to consider how trauma and neurodiversity intersect—and how poorly we often tell those stories.

Christian Wolff is neither villain nor savior. He is a man shaped by forces larger than himself, a symbol of a society that excels at calculating outcomes but falters at feeling them.

The cinematic world has begun to shift, slowly, toward more dimensional portrayals of neurodivergent lives.

We are not there yet. But each flawed film, each half-step toward honesty, opens a door. I understand there’s a sequel coming out soon.

Perhaps next time, the accountant won't need a gun to be heard. But I doubt it.

Be Well, Stay Kind, and Godspeed.

REFERENCES:

American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.).

Courtois, C. A., & Ford, J. D. (2009). Treating complex traumatic stress disorders: An evidence-based guide. Guilford Press.

Crompton, C. J., Ropar, D., Evans-Williams, C. V., Flynn, E. G., & Fletcher-Watson, S. (2020). Autistic peer-to-peer information transfer is highly effective. Autism, 24(7), 1704–1712. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362361320919286

Draaisma, D. (2009). Stereotypes of autism. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 364(1522), 1475–1480. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2008.0324

Hull, L., Mandy, W., Petrides, K. V., & Lai, M. C. (2021). Behavioral and cognitive sex/gender differences in autism spectrum condition and typically developing males and females. Autism, 25(6), 1576–1590.

Milton, D. (2012). On the ontological status of autism: The ‘double empathy problem’. Disability & Society, 27(6), 883–887. https://doi.org/10.1080/09687599.2012.710008

Murray, S. (2008). Representing autism: Culture, narrative, fascination. Liverpool University Press.

Siegel, D. J. (2012). The developing mind: How relationships and the brain interact to shape who we are (2nd ed.). Guilford Press.

Van der Kolk, B. A. (2014). The body keeps the score: Brain, mind, and body in the healing of trauma. Viking.