# Movies that portray mental illness **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 12, 2010, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-portray-mental-illness/546357 "2010-07-12T03:24:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Stan\_Shmenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/94ad74/32.png) [@Stan\_Shmenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stan_Shmenge)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2010, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-portray-mental-illness/546357/61 "2010-07-15T10:40:00Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > _Frances_ with Jessica Lange (nervous breakdown, lobotomy). Only if you want a piece of anti psychiatry Scientology backed propaganda. Frances Farmer was never lobotomized as depicted in the film. ---
**Author:** ![Lo-Slung\_Denim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f6c823/32.png) [@Lo-Slung\_Denim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lo-Slung_Denim)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2010, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-portray-mental-illness/546357/62 "2010-07-15T11:26:53Z")
> [@Quercus\_alba](#): > > _The Soloist_. > Except for the synesthesia, I thought it was a pretty accurate portrayal of the real life challenges of homeless schizophrenics. And Foxx nailed the more intangible, less dramatic “feel” of what it can be like to talk to an untreated schizophrenic. Maybe I’ll properly check it out. My job is pretty much working with homeless schizophrenics, and the trailer gave the impression that he is rescued by the other guy, and he was made palatable by the fact he had this gift. In my experience, lotta folks don’t have a ‘gift’ so no one gives a shit about them, and sadly it’s rare that anyone gets rescued. **Little Plastic Ninja** , it sounds from your spoiler that I’ve misjudged it. ---
**Author:** ![Meurglys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2010, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-portray-mental-illness/546357/63 "2010-07-15T11:32:00Z")
How about [Pi](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0138704/), about paranoia and obsession? Intense soundtrack, too. ---
**Author:** ![ioioio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ioioio/32/316_2.png) [@ioioio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ioioio)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2010, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-portray-mental-illness/546357/64 "2010-07-15T20:22:46Z")
It’s old, but _A Woman Under the Influence_ (1974) with Gena Rowlands was thought-provoking, illustrating the fine line between eccentricity and mental illness. The character Mabel is committed to a psychiatric hospital by her husband – possibly more because he’s embarrassed by her behavior than because she presents any danger to her family or herself. When she comes home, she’s different. Gena Rowlands won a Global Globe and was nominated for an Oscar for her role in this film. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2010, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-portray-mental-illness/546357/65 "2010-07-15T22:26:50Z")
**beckwall** , these are legal adults that you are teaching. You may choose to warn them if you find the language offensive, but remind them that if they go into psychiatric nursing, it comes with the territory. You don’t have to answer to their parents. They are not children. I believe that Natalie Wood made a film called **The Cracker Factory** that might be helpful. Someone mentioned **The Snakepit**. It is excellent. But so much has changed since that film was made. I really think that **One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest** is superb. It might be especially appropriate since the emphasis is on what NOT to be if you are a psychiatric nurse. It would be a much better teaching tool. **Harold and Maude** is not a realistic film about mental illness – as much as I love it. ---
**Author:** ![2\_Fat\_Cattle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/2/838e76/32.png) [@2\_Fat\_Cattle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2_Fat_Cattle)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2010, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-portray-mental-illness/546357/66 "2010-07-16T02:58:32Z")
My mother was a Psych Nurse and Nursing Professor. She was very intolerant of inaccurate portrayals of mental illness. She used _The Dream Team_ in some of her nursing classes and group sessions. It is a comedy, and a little older, but she liked it. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2010, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-portray-mental-illness/546357/67 "2010-07-16T03:26:34Z")
_The Shining_. That’ll teach 'em about Jack Nicholson, the whippersnappers. ---
**Author:** ![irishgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@irishgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/irishgirl)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2010, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-portray-mental-illness/546357/68 "2010-07-16T19:17:06Z")
_Lars and the Real Girl_-delusional disorder _Marnie_-kleptomania and personality disorder ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2010, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-portray-mental-illness/546357/69 "2010-07-17T00:12:26Z")
I feel _Apocalypse Now_ fits in at some level. ---
**Author:** ![Small\_Hen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ad7895/32.png) [@Small\_Hen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Small_Hen)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2010, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-portray-mental-illness/546357/70 "2010-07-17T01:30:22Z")
> [@Lo-Slung\_Denim](#): > > Maybe I’ll properly check it out. My job is pretty much working with homeless schizophrenics, and the trailer gave the impression that he is rescued by the other guy, and he was made palatable by the fact he had this gift. In my experience, lotta folks don’t have a ‘gift’ so no one gives a shit about them, and sadly it’s rare that anyone gets rescued. **Little Plastic Ninja** , it sounds from your spoiler that I’ve misjudged it. I wouldn’t call The Soloist a great movie, but I’d check it out for educational value, if only because most of the people playing homeless, mentally ill individuals actually _are._ The Lamp Community, where the movie was mainly filmed, is a real place, and a number of scenes feature the residents talking about their illness. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2010, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-portray-mental-illness/546357/71 "2010-07-17T03:51:47Z")
The wonderfully creepy SF drama _Dark City_ has a strong undercurrent of paranoia, homicidal mania and obsession. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2010, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-portray-mental-illness/546357/72 "2010-07-18T03:14:48Z")
I just mentioned [Dark Days](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0235327/) (2000) over in the documentary thread. It’s about the permanent homeless population in the tunnels beneath New York City. Some of those people have serious mental problems. ---
**Author:** ![voguevixen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5ac83/32.png) [@voguevixen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voguevixen)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2010, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-portray-mental-illness/546357/73 "2010-07-20T01:01:15Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Yes, but I was trying to list _good_ movies. I’m not a Sandra Bullock fan but I have to say I thought that was a really good movie. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2010, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-portray-mental-illness/546357/74 "2010-07-20T03:56:08Z")
> [@Quercus\_alba](#): > > _The Soloist_. > Except for the synesthesia, I thought it was a pretty accurate portrayal of the real life challenges of homeless schizophrenics. And Foxx nailed the more intangible, less dramatic “feel” of what it can be like to talk to an untreated schizophrenic. Note that the protagonist was a real person. He was not synesthetic, although I have read a couple of blog items from people with synesthesia who said that the sequence in the movie accurately depicts what they experience. > [@Lute Skywatcher](#): > > For something more recent there’s [28 Days](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0191754/). I can’t imagine I’m the only person who initially thought this was referring to [28 Days Later](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/28_days_later). ---
**Author:** ![Sateryn76](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e4f/32.png) [@Sateryn76](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sateryn76)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2010, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-portray-mental-illness/546357/75 "2010-07-20T04:55:00Z")
Two thoughts: The Aviator - good movie, and also deals with some issues of being embarrassed/aware of going nuts Pollock - again, great movie, but I’m not sure exactly what was wrong with him mentally, except for the substance abuse ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2010, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-portray-mental-illness/546357/76 "2010-07-20T05:34:43Z")
There’s [The King of Hearts](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_of_Hearts_%281966_film%29), where a British soldier (deserter?) winds up in a town taken over by escaped mental patients. In ['night Mother](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%27night,_Mother_%28film%29) Anne Bancroft tries to talk her daughter (Sissy Spacek) out of killing herself and in [A Woman Under the Influence](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Woman_Under_the_Influence), IIRC, Gena Rowlands goes fetchingly and poetically bonkers. ETA: sorry **laina\_f** , I missed your post. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2010, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-portray-mental-illness/546357/77 "2010-07-20T05:40:57Z")
Two from Alan Parker: [Birdy](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086969/) (1984) and [Pink Floyd The Wall](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084503/) (1982), the latter of which I especially can’t believe I did not think to mention before. Would _The Rocky Horror Picture Show_ fit in? But you’d have to take the students to a midnight showing and probably pay more attention to the audience than the movie. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2010, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-portray-mental-illness/546357/78 "2010-07-20T06:08:56Z")
We had a Movies of 1964 thread a short time ago and I was going to mention this one but forget to. In any case, although the OP wasn’t looking for old movies, [**Lilith**](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058294/), starring Warren Beatty, Jean Seberg, and Peter Fonda, is at least interesting in its depiction of how mental illness was treated in the early 60s (at least among people who could afford to have their family members sent to a expensive private sanitarium for care). One thing it has in its favor is it doesn’t make the mistake many movie and TV shows did at the time of confusing schizophrenia with multiple personality disorder. There are also dramatizations of extreme depression and PTSD (although it wasn’t called that at the time). However, it’s depictions of homosexuality and promiscuity (i.e., nymphomania) are rather dated now. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2010, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-portray-mental-illness/546357/79 "2010-07-22T13:21:39Z")
Nobody has mentioned Kathy Bates’s Oscar winning portrayal of Annie Wilkes in the film adaptation of Stephen King’s _Misery_? Hello? ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2010, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-portray-mental-illness/546357/80 "2010-07-22T14:20:30Z")
[The Informant!](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Informant!) Based on a true story, but I can’t say for sure whether the portrayal of mental illness is accurate. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-portray-mental-illness/546357.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-portray-mental-illness/546357.md?page=5)