Tisher Price Posted October 16, 2016 Share Posted October 16, 2016 After Dr. Sigmund Freud died in 1939, there was a rash of movies dealing with mental illness, the psyche, psychological problems and mental health. The Snake Pit Sybil Suddenly, Last Summer Vertigo Marnie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TopBilled Posted October 16, 2016 Share Posted October 16, 2016 John Huston made an interesting biopic in 1962 called FREUD: THE SECRET PASSION. Montgomery Clift played the doctor. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freud:_The_Secret_Passion Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJBeacon Posted October 16, 2016 Share Posted October 16, 2016 "The Seven -Per-Cent Solution" with Alan Arkin as the good Dr. trying to help Sherlock Holmes with his issues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingrat Posted October 17, 2016 Share Posted October 17, 2016 Don't forget Kings Row; Now, Voyager; The President's Analyst; and (giggle giggle giggle) The Chapman Report and Shock Corridor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tisher Price Posted October 18, 2016 Author Share Posted October 18, 2016 Bigger Than Life Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tisher Price Posted October 18, 2016 Author Share Posted October 18, 2016 POSSESSED (1941) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesJazGuitar Posted October 18, 2016 Share Posted October 18, 2016 The Dark Past with William Holden, Lee J. Cobb and Nina Foch (1948 Columbia film). Nifty psychological noir. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TopBilled Posted October 18, 2016 Share Posted October 18, 2016 One film hasn't been mentioned yet (and to my knowledge, it's never aired on TCM): THE DARK MIRROR (1946). Lew Ayres is a psychiatrist who tries to help troubled twins, played by Olivia DeHavilland. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tisher Price Posted October 18, 2016 Author Share Posted October 18, 2016 The Snake Pit (Olivia DeHavilland) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arsan404 Posted October 19, 2016 Share Posted October 19, 2016 The Three Faces Of Eve. Joanne Woodward gives affine performance as a woman with multiple personalities. Good support from Lee J. Cobb as her psychiatrist and David Wayne as her husband. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tikisoo Posted October 21, 2016 Share Posted October 21, 2016 My favorite movie depicting mental illness is 1991's THE FISHER KING. Director Terry Gilliam shows the audience the horrific incident that sets off the charactor Perry -brilliantly played by Robin Williams- and his inability to cope and instead creating a fantasy world to live within. Gilliam designed a charactor, "The Red Knight" to personify the "evil" in the world that only Perry sees. Whenever Perry's ideas are challenged with reason, the Red Knight (his mental illness) shows up to taunt him. Perry would live his life in this horror fantasy if it weren't for charactor Jack -played by Jeff Bridges- a tortured soul of a different kind. Jack is an incredibly self centered celebrity who is also "stuck" in life, not seeing anyone else around him. Their journey is peppered with sick & hurt individuals that Jack is first repelled by, then discovers (through Perry) they are all just people simply tortured by an inability to cope with life, like himself & Perry. The beauty of the story is how these two flawed, misdirected individuals help each other and inadvertently, cure themselves. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingrat Posted October 21, 2016 Share Posted October 21, 2016 I'm a big fan of The Fisher King, too. One of the best films of the 1990s. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LawrenceA Posted October 21, 2016 Share Posted October 21, 2016 I still recall seeing The Fisher King in the theater. I was a huge Terry Gilliam fan, and was very excited that he had a new film out. I had to travel to a larger, nearby town to see it, as it didn't come to my local theater. It was opening weekend, and the theater was packed. As the movie started, there were several people laughing at every little thing, especially when Robin Williams first came onscreen. I soon realized that a great many in the audience thought this was going to be a "Robin Williams comedy", and not a strange and challenging Terry Gilliam movie. By the half-way point, people were starting to exit the theater. By the end, a full third had left. Walking out afterward, I could hear multiple people grumbling and complaining about how "stupid" and "unfunny" and "terrible" the movie was. It remains one of the most negative cinema experiences I have ever had. I enjoyed the movie myself, and have watched it many times since then. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tikisoo Posted October 22, 2016 Share Posted October 22, 2016 By the end, a full third had left. Walking out afterward, I could hear multiple people grumbling and complaining about how "stupid" and "unfunny" and "terrible" the movie was. It remains one of the most negative cinema experiences I have ever had. Wow Lawrence, thank you for that trip back into time. I saw it with some cinephile friends and I don't recall that kind of audience reaction. Very interesting! Didn't it win best picture that year? I bet those grumbling people were scratching their heads. I remember people being turned off by Williams' **** comedy schtick in the 90's. Apparently, you just can't please everybody- whether you remain the same or change. I'm so glad Williams went on to do dramas*, he was such an incredible talent in any genre. *THE WORLD ACCORDING TO GARP MOSCOW ON THE HUDSON GOOD MORNING VIETNAM AWAKENINGS come to mind 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomJH Posted October 22, 2016 Share Posted October 22, 2016 My favorite movie depicting mental illness is 1991's THE FISHER KING. Director Terry Gilliam shows the audience the horrific incident that sets off the charactor Perry -brilliantly played by Robin Williams- and his inability to cope and instead creating a fantasy world to live within. I certainly agree that The Fisher King is blessed with fine performances by both Robin Williams and Jeff Bridges. Of course, seeing Williams playing a psychologically tortured soul who couldn't deal with life is that much more poignant now in view of the actor's own tragic fate. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tisher Price Posted October 30, 2016 Author Share Posted October 30, 2016 Repulsion (1966) directed by Roman Polanski starring Catherine Deneuve... when I watched this film the first time, I concluded the young lady (Deneuve) just hated the thought of a man's touch. I watched it again last year, now that I have it on DVD, my eyes opened for the first time realizing that my first impression of the woman didn't even scrape the surface of her mental illnesses. My only complaint about this film is that as a black and white movie, it had way too many shadows to make out what was what, but this poor young woman seemed to be suffering from agoraphobia (fear of open places or going outside), schizophrenia, some depression, xenophobia (fear of people)--but definitely schizophrenia. We are right there with the Deneuve character as she hallucinates, hears voices and strange sounds, and feelings of paranoia. WE become repulsed watching her live in the shadows of a dark apartment, full of disorder displayed by dirty dishes, clothes on the floor, uneaten food, and a rat or mouse that she may or may not have eaten, refusing to eat the dinner left for her by her sister. You don't know what's real or unreal through the eyes of a mentally unstable woman. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tisher Price Posted November 19, 2016 Author Share Posted November 19, 2016 Frances (1982) starring Jessica Lange as "Frances Farmer" the real life actress of the 1930s/1940s who was truly a free spirit, who smoke and drank and drove fast as reckless as any other man, but due to her mother's controlling behavior (Kim Stanley) and the authorities feeling she was too wild and boisterous felt she had to be "hospitalized." Frances wasn't even mentally ill in the traditional sense, but they thought they can conform this young lady. Eventually, they wrongfully gave her a lobotomy that ruined her creativity, dulling her once vibrant personality, leaving her like a robot. Sadly, she passed away in 1970 after penning her autobiography "Will There Ever Be A Morning?" detailing her nightmarish experiences locked up in a sanitarium against her will, becoming a pariah in the acting world, thanks to her mother. Hard book to put down, but once in a while, you may have to put it aside to take in the horrible visuals very slowly... very descriptive, and graphic book. I have 2 first editions somewhere in the house. Jessica Lange did a superb job playing the troubled actress, while meeting second/third husband Sam Shepard also in the movie (the narrator). It was such an emotional experience, that her agent told her to do a light, funny movie after she was done Frances. One of my fave films! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swithin Posted November 19, 2016 Share Posted November 19, 2016 Random Harvest Harold and Maude Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tisher Price Posted November 20, 2016 Author Share Posted November 20, 2016 Strait-Jacket (1964) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tisher Price Posted November 22, 2016 Author Share Posted November 22, 2016 Splendor in the Grass Natalie Wood's character has a major nervous breakdown, after her boyfriend (Warren Beatty) dumps her unceremoniously. After a failed suicide attempt, she is hospitalized in a sanitarium. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts