The Best Movies Portraying Mental Illness
The media's infamous for its misrepresentation and stigmatization of mental illness. I don't think this is a fair assumption. Society has always condemned the mentally ill, casting them out or accusing them of supernatural possession and the like. This was long before the film industry came into play. We, as humans, instinctually ostracise those who are different. Here I present to you a list of films that attempt to counter this mainstream ignorance, improving the portrayal of the mentally ill; or, in some cases, exploring the darker features of some of these disorders. Whoever you are, I highly recommend you check them out :)
I've also included Psychological thrillers to the mix. All in all this is a personal list I've created, and will continue to add to, as I begin my way through Psychiatry residency training.
I've also included Psychological thrillers to the mix. All in all this is a personal list I've created, and will continue to add to, as I begin my way through Psychiatry residency training.
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- 31 titles
- DirectorLodge KerriganStarsPeter GreeneAlice LevittMegan OwenAfter a man suffering from schizophrenia is released from a mental institution, he attempts to get his daughter back from her adoptive family.
- DirectorJeff NicholsStarsMichael ShannonJessica ChastainShea WhighamFrightening visions convince an Ohio man that disaster looms on the horizon.
- DirectorMichel GondryStarsJim CarreyKate WinsletTom WilkinsonWhen their relationship turns sour, a couple undergoes a medical procedure to have each other erased from their memories forever.
- DirectorRon HowardStarsRussell CroweEd HarrisJennifer ConnellyA mathematical genius, John Nash made an astonishing discovery early in his career and stood on the brink of international acclaim. But the handsome and arrogant Nash soon found himself on a harrowing journey of self-discovery.
- DirectorGus Van SantStarsRobin WilliamsMatt DamonBen AffleckA therapist counsels Will Hunting, a janitor with a genius IQ.
- DirectorCraig GillespieStarsRyan GoslingEmily MortimerPaul SchneiderA delusional young man strikes up an unconventional relationship with a doll he finds on the Internet.
- DirectorJames MangoldStarsWinona RyderAngelina JolieClea DuVallDirectionless teenager Susanna is rushed to Claymoore, a mental institution, after a supposed suicide attempt. There she befriends a group of troubled women who deeply influence her life.
- DirectorThomas VinterbergStarsMads MikkelsenThomas Bo LarsenAnnika WedderkoppA teacher lives a lonely life, all the while struggling over his son's custody. His life slowly gets better as he finds love and receives good news from his son, but his new luck is about to be brutally shattered by an innocent little lie.
- DirectorLasse HallströmStarsJohnny DeppLeonardo DiCaprioJuliette LewisA young man in a small Midwestern town struggles to care for his mentally-disabled younger brother and morbidly obese mother while attempting to pursue his own happiness.
- DirectorJaco Van DormaelStarsJared LetoSarah PolleyDiane KrugerA boy stands on a station platform as a train is about to leave. Should he go with his mother or stay with his father? Infinite possibilities arise from this decision. As long as he doesn't choose, anything is possible.
- DirectorLynne RamsayStarsTilda SwintonJohn C. ReillyEzra MillerKevin's mother struggles to love her strange child despite the increasingly dangerous things he says and does as he grows up. But Kevin is just getting started, and his final act will be beyond anything anyone imagined.
- DirectorMax MayerStarsHugh DancyRose ByrnePeter GallagherAdam, a lonely man with Asperger's Syndrome, develops a relationship with his upstairs neighbor, Beth.
- DirectorAdam ElliotStarsToni CollettePhilip Seymour HoffmanEric BanaIn 1976 Melbourne, a lonely 8-year-old girl strikes up a correspondence with an unlikely pen pal: a severely obese 44-year-old New Yorker with Asperger's syndrome.
- DirectorDavid CronenbergStarsRalph FiennesMiranda RichardsonGabriel ByrneA mentally disturbed man takes residence in a halfway house. His mind gradually slips back into the realm created by his illness, where he replays a key part of his childhood.
- DirectorMilos FormanStarsJack NicholsonLouise FletcherMichael BerrymanA rebellious convict is sent to a psychiatric hospital for evaluation in 1963 Oregon, and encourages his docile companions to take more control of their lives and defy the tyrannical head nurse.
- DirectorLauren GreenfieldStarsShelly GuilloryBrittany RobinsonAlisa WilliamsThe story of four women suffering from anorexia and bulimia in South Florida.
- DirectorTodd DreznerStarsNadine AntonelliSimon Baron-CohenBillyWhat would you call a four year old who caresses all the lampposts in the park? Quirky? Unusual? Or sick? Such labels are at the center of the debate about autism. Is it a disease or a different way of being--or both? After his son's diagnosis, filmmaker Todd Drezner visits the front lines of the autism wars. We meet parents desperate for a cure, visit conferences where vendors hawk vitamins and hyperbaric chambers, hear from advocates who fight for 'neurodiversity,' and follow a group of autistic children and adults whose lives show that 'if you've met one autistic person, you've met one autistic person.'
- DirectorIngmar BergmanStarsHarriet AnderssonGunnar BjörnstrandMax von SydowRecently released from a mental hospital, Karin rejoins her emotionally disconnected family in their island home, only to slip from reality as she begins to believe she is being visited by God.
- DirectorLodge KerriganStarsDamian LewisLiza Colón-ZayasJohn TormeyA disheveled man desperately searches New York City for his young daughter.
- DirectorElia KazanStarsVivien LeighMarlon BrandoKim HunterDisturbed Blanche DuBois moves in with her sister in New Orleans and is tormented by her brutish brother-in-law while her reality crumbles around her.
- DirectorWoody AllenStarsCate BlanchettAlec BaldwinPeter SarsgaardA New York socialite, deeply troubled and in denial, arrives in San Francisco to impose upon her sister. She looks like a million dollars but isn't bringing money, peace or love.
- DirectorPhilippe ClaudelStarsKristin Scott ThomasElsa ZylbersteinSerge HazanaviciusA woman struggles to interact with her family and find her place in society after spending fifteen years in prison.
- DirectorStephen DaldryStarsMeryl StreepNicole KidmanJulianne MooreThe story of how the novel "Mrs. Dalloway" affects three generations of women, all of whom, in one way or another, have had to deal with suicide in their lives.
- DirectorJeff NicholsStarsMichael ShannonJessica ChastainShea WhighamFrightening visions convince an Ohio man that disaster looms on the horizon.
- DirectorSarah PolleyStarsJulie ChristieMichael MurphyGordon PinsentA man coping with the institutionalization of his wife because of Alzheimer's disease faces an epiphany when she transfers her affections to another man, Aubrey, a wheelchair-bound mute who also is a patient at the nursing home.
