Films Illustrating Psychopathology Danny Wedding Mary Ann Boyd ...

Appendix G: Films Illustrating Psychopathology 227
Torch Song Trilogy (1988) Drama ΨΨΨ
Anne Bancroft and Matthew Broderick in a film
adaptation of Harvey Fierstein’s play about a
homosexual drag queen and his lovers, enemies,
and mother.
Two Women (1961) Drama/War ΨΨΨ
Classic Vittorio De Sica film starring Sophia
Loren. The film is about love, war, rape, and a
mother’s love for her teenage daughter.
Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988)
Romance ΨΨΨ
A highly sensual film about a Prague neurosurgeon
and his inability to separate sex and love. The film
is based on the novel of the same name by Milan
Kundera.
Unfaithful (2002) Drama/Suspense ΨΨ
Richard Gere finds his wife (Diane Lane) is cheating
on him and plots revenge.
Victor/Victoria (1982) Musical/Comedy ΨΨ
Blake Edwards film with Julie Andrews as a downon-her-luck
singer who becomes a sensation when
she pretends to be a male-female impersonator.
Viridiana (1961) Drama ΨΨΨΨ
This complex Luis Buñuel film tells the story
of a young woman who returns home to visit
her uncle just before taking vows as a nun. She
resembles her dead aunt, and her uncle drugs
her while she is wearing her aunt’s wedding
dress. He plans to rape her but is unable to
commit the act. He commits suicide; she inherits
his estate and devotes her life to serving
the poor.
Visiting Desire (1996) Documentary ΨΨ
Twelve strangers are brought together to act out
their sexual fantasies.
“Stealing images from life is
my life.”
A voyeur describes himself
in Voyeur Confessions
Voyeur Confessions (2001) Drama ΨΨ
This film captures the pain associated with the life
of the voyeur. The movie touches on the etiology
of voyeurism, and helps serious students better
understand the paraphilias.
Warm Water Under a Red Bridge (2001)
Drama/Comedy ΨΨΨ
A Japanese fable about a woman with a supernatural
sexual condition in which water builds up in her
body and can only be released by sex. Directed by
Shohei Imamura.
We Don’t Live Here Anymore (2004)
Drama ΨΨΨ
Two couples (played by Peter Krause, Naomi
Watts, Mark Ruffalo, and Laura Dern) find both
their marriages failing, in part due to adultery. The
movie includes themes of deceit, manipulation,
lack of integrity, and the excitement of secrecy.
Each couple battles against boredom and idleness,
using sex to escape the emptiness of their lives.
Wild Orchid 2: Two Shades of Blue (1991)
Drama Ψ
Disappointing film about the daughter of a heroin
addict who becomes a prostitute to support her
father’s habit while maintaining a double identity.
World According to Garp, The (1982)
Comedy/Drama ΨΨ
John Lithgow plays transsexual Roberta
Muldoon in a film in which troubled sexuality
is commonplace.
Yentl (1983) Musical ΨΨ
Barbra Streisand directed and produced this film,
and she has the lead role as a young woman in
Eastern Europe who has to pass herself off as a man
in order to get an education. Interesting examination
of sex roles; terrific performance by Streisand.
Young Adam (2003) Drama ΨΨ
Ewan Macgregor as a sexual addict who acts out
sexually with his boss’ wife, her sister, and a
woman he meets at a ship’s port.
Schizophrenia and Other
Psychotic Disorders
13 Moons (2002) Drama ΨΨ
Three priests, a bail bondsman, a musician, and
two clowns cross paths on night-time city streets.
One character, a drug addict needed for an organ
transplant, is blatantly psychotic throughout
the film.
From: Wedding, D., Boyd, M.A., & Niemiec, R.M. Movies and Mental Illness: Using Films to Understand Psychopathology
© 2005 Hogrefe & Huber Publishers (www.hogrefe.com)