Denby on Ledger’s Performance

Here’s David Denby on Heath Ledger’s performance in this week’s New Yorker: 

As you’re watching him, you can’t help wondering—in a response that admittedly lies outside film criticism—how badly he messed himself up in order to play the role this way. His performance is a heroic, unsettling final act: this young actor looked into the abyss.

Seems like there’s a pattern emerging. Have people pretty much decided that Ledger’s all-consuming commitment to his craft contributed to his death? If so, that’s really interesting.