Films Illustrating Psychopathology Danny Wedding Mary Ann Boyd ...

254 Movies and Mental Illness
Home of the Brave (1949) Drama/War ΨΨΨ
Black soldier suffers a mental breakdown and is
treated by a sympathetic psychiatrist. One of the
first films to deal honestly with racism and bigotry.
House of Games (1987) Crime ΨΨ
A David Mamet film about a psychiatrist specializing
in the treatment of gambling addiction.
Fascinating introduction to the world of the con.
House of Fools (2002) Drama ΨΨΨΨ
Based on a true story: the chief psychiatrist and
treatment staff of a mental institution flee due to
conflicts in Chechnya, leaving the patients to
fend for themselves. Soon soldiers occupy the
hospital and the viewer is left with various questions
of war, politics, mental health treatment and
which is more crazy—the mentally ill or the politics
of war. The film is loaded with examples of
psychopathology.
Inside/Out (1997) Drama ΨΨΨ
A Rob Tregenza film about life in a psychiatric
hospital that was well received at the 1998
Sundance Film Festival. The film documents that
both patients and staff find it hard to cope with the
difficult demands of life.
Intimate Strangers (2004) Drama ΨΨΨ
This French film shows what happens when a
nervous woman with an attention deficit disorder
and marital problems mistakenly enters the wrong
office and begins telling her personal problems to
a man she assumes is a psychiatrist. The man, a tax
accountant, is used to hearing problems and giving
advice, and he is so fascinated by his new client
that initially he cannot bring himself to correct her
mistake.
King of Hearts (1966) Comedy/Drama
/War ΨΨΨΨ
A Scotsman separated from his unit wanders into
town, abandoned by all except the inmates of the
local insane asylum. Must-see film for those interested
in public attitudes about mental illness.
Ladybird, Ladybird (1993) Drama ΨΨΨΨ
Dramatic presentation of the clash between the rights
of a parent and society’s need to protect children.
Lilith (1964) Drama ΨΨ
Strong cast (Peter Fonda, Gene Hackman,
Warren Beatty, and Kim Hunter) supports a weak
script about a psychiatric inpatient who seduces a
neophyte therapist.
Lost Angels (1989) Drama ΨΨ
Donald Sutherland plays a psychiatrist treating a
Los Angeles adolescent who is angry and troubled
but probably not mentally ill.
“When insurance paid for a year
in a place like this, we said it took
a year to help a kid. Now
insurance pays for three months,
and, presto, it takes three months
to turn a kid around.”
Donald Sutherland complaining
about the system in Lost Angels
Ludwig (1973) Biography Ψ
Long and somewhat tedious film about the mad
King Ludwig of Bavaria. Good costumes and
scenery, but the film teaches us little about mental
illness or Ludwig himself.
Macbeth (1971) Drama ΨΨΨ
Powerful Roman Polanski adaptation of
Shakespeare’s play. It is interesting to speculate
about the obsessions of Lady Macbeth and to
compare Polanski’s version with the earlier Orson
Welles’ adaptation.
Man Facing Southeast (1986) Drama ΨΨΨΨ
Fascinating Argentine film about a man without
identity who shows up at a psychiatric hospital
claiming to be from another planet. It seems that
this is not just another patient, and neither the
hospital staff nor the film’s audience ever figures
out exactly what is happening. (In a line that is
meaningful to one viewer in a thousand, Bill
Murray’s character in What About Bob? pays
homage to this film by asking if he can arrange
his bed so it faces southeast.)
Man Who Loved Women, The (1983) Comedy Ψ
A remake of the François Truffaut film of the
same name. This film involves long sequences in
which Burt Reynolds unburdens himself to his
psychiatrist.
Marat/Sade (1966) Drama ΨΨΨΨ
In the early 1800s, the inmates of a French asylum
put on a play directed by the Marquis de Sade (a
patient) based on the bathtub assassination of Jean
Paul Marat. The play incites the patients to riot.
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)