Films Illustrating Psychopathology Danny Wedding Mary Ann Boyd ...

Appendix G: Films Illustrating Psychopathology 189
believed to be the lost princess Anastasia, daughter
of the last czar of Russia.
Bandits (2001) Comedy ΨΨ
Loosely based on a true story about two criminals
who rob banks in a non-violent way. One of the men
(Billy Bob Thornton) is hypochondriacal. In interviews,
Thornton stated it was not much of a “stretch”
to play this role—he has a well-documented phobia
of antique furniture.
Black Friday (1940) Horror ΨΨ
Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi star in this film
about transplanting a gangster’s brain in a college
professor’s cranium.
Butterfly Effect, The (2003) Drama/Suspense ΨΨ
A young man (Ashton Kutcher) tries to change his
traumatic past with unpredictable and increasingly
problematic consequences. When he reflects on
blackouts, he enters the memory and is able to
change it for the long-term but must face the consequences
of the change each time. The film
attempts to depict chaos theory, and opens with a
famous quotation.
Cyrano de Bergerac (1990) Romance ΨΨΨ
Gerard Depardieu stars as the inimitable Cyrano,
a man obsessed with the size of his nose and
convinced it makes him forever unlovable.
Dark Mirror, The (1946) Thriller Ψ
Olivia De Havilland plays both parts in a story of
twin sisters, one of whom is a deranged killer.
Dead Again (1991) Mystery/Romance ΨΨΨ
Emma Thompson costars with her husband,
Kenneth Branagh (who also directed the film). The
movie illustrates traumatic amnesia and its treatment
through hypnosis. The hypnotist, an antique
dealer, is not the most professional of therapists!
Despair (1979) Drama ΨΨΨΨ
Fassbinder film based on a novel by Vladimir
Nabokov. A Russian Jew émigré in Germany who
runs a chocolate factory kills another man who
looks like him, and tries to pass it off as his own
suicide. When his plan fails, he becomes psychotic.
Devils, The (1971) Drama/Historical ΨΨΨ
Ken Russell film adapted from Aldous Huxley’s
book The Devils of Loundun. The film traces the
lives of seventeenth-century French nuns who experienced
highly erotic dissociative states attributed
to possession by the devil.
Double Life of Veronique, The (1991)
Fantasy/Drama ΨΨ
The lives of two women turn out to be linked in
complex ways the viewer never fully understands.
Double Life, A (1947) Crime ΨΨ
Ronald Coleman plays an actor who is unable to sort
out his theatrical life (in which he plays Othello) and
his personal life.
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1932) Horror ΨΨΨΨ
Fredric March in the best adaptation of Robert Louis
Stevenson’s classic story about the ultimate dissociative
disorder. Stevenson was an alcoholic, and
alcohol may be the model for the mysterious liquid
that dramatically transforms Jekyll’s personality.
Exorcist, The (1973) Horror ΨΨ
Linda Blair stars as a 12-year-old girl possessed
by the devil in William Friedkin’s film based on
the William Peter Blatty novel. One of the most
suspenseful films ever made.
“It’s only after we’ve lost
everything [that] we are free to
do anything.”
A premise of Fight Club
Fight Club (1999) Drama/Suspense ΨΨΨΨ
A disillusioned, insomniac (Edward Norton) meets a
dangerous, malcontent part of himself in the character
of Brad Pitt. Norton then establishes “fight clubs”
in which men can unload their aggressions onto one
another. Interesting look at Norton’s deterioration.
Freud (1962) Biography ΨΨΨ
Montgomery Clift in an interesting account of the
early year’s of Freud’s life. The film illustrates
paralysis, false blindness, and a false pregnancy, all
examples of somatization disorders.
Great Dictator, The (1940) Comedy ΨΨ
A satire of Adolph Hitler, with Charlie Chaplin in
the role of a Jewish barber who suffers amnesia and
eventually finds himself assuming the personality
of Adenoid Hynkel, the dictator of Tomania.
Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)
Comedy/Drama ΨΨΨ
Mickey (Woody Allen) is a hopeless hypochondriac
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)