An Education

Spoiler Warning!

David exhibits some sociopathic traits, but does not seem to meet criteria for Antisocial Personality Disorder. Might we describe his apparent affinity for teenage girls as an addiction, or is there a clue that Jenny may have been younger than his usual affair? For Pedophilia sex seems to play a relatively minor role in his interest in her, criteria do seem to be met. From what little we know it seems to go beyond triangulation, but we know almost nothing about his marriage.

Pedophilia

Inglourious Basterds

Shosanna avenges the brutal killing of her family by Nazis.

Bereavement

The Band's Visit

We learn that Tewfiq's son killed himself. How might his bereavement have shaped his behavior and his attitude toward the band members and Israelis his meets.

bereavement | suicide

Borat - Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan

Borat's "humor coach" advises him that Americans will not likely laugh at jokes about mental retardation and other disabilities (0:12), but at a dinner party where he is supposed to learn etiquette, he seems (pretends?) to hear the word "retired" as "retard" (0:45).

mental retardation

The Long Goodbye

Suicide: After he apparently murders his wife and travels to Mexico local authorities report that he "blew his brains out (0:24)." Roger Wade asks Marlowe, "Did you ever think about suicide?" (1:10). Distraught and drunk Wade disappears into the surf in front of his Malibu home (1:23).

Psychiatric hospital: Wade's wife hires Marlowe to find her husband, suggesting he often goes away to dry out when his "drinking problem" flares up (0:32). Marlowe finds him at the Burbank Care Center run by the peculiar Dr. Verringer, apparently a psychiatrist who pursues his patient to his home to collect payment for his treatment (1:16). As Marlowe searches the grounds for Wade, Verringer, who has denied knowing either himself or Wade, follows him. We see aids and nurses accompanying disturbed or demented patients on walks. They shush Marlowe whenever he tries to ask about Wade (0:39).

Discussing Wade's writers' block with him Marlowe refers to "Freudian analysis and primal scream" (0:44).

psychiatric hospital | psychiatrist | suicide

The Poker House

Spoiler Alert!

Her abusive (0:24) father leaves Agnes with her abusive mother, a prostitute, in a home that doubles as a poker (0:53) house. Agnes shows promise as a writer and stars at basketball. She takes good care of her two younger sisters, and the three, while largely fending for themselves, enjoy the good will of a solid community of good people who, nonetheless, seem ignorant of their plight. She reviews most of them at the basketball game (1:19).

So when Sarah's pimp Duval rapes Agnes (1:05), and Sarah ignores her pain, Agnes channels her hurt and anger into her best ever performance at the big basketball game and seems ready to bounce back.

Agnes smokes joints (0:01, 0:57)

Sarah snorts cocaine (0:21, 0:55)
   
Is tremulous Stymie, always sitting at the bar, alcoholic? 

cannabis | cocaine | Physical Abuse of Child | Sexual Abuse of Child

Super High Me

No surprises: numerous scenes depict marijuana use. Wait, there is one big surprise. This may be the only film to depict serial administration of the Mini Mental State Examination.

cannabis | Cannabis Intoxication | joint | Mini Mental State Examination

Annie Hall

#anniehall

In his book Reel Psychiatry: Movie Portrayals of Psychiatric Conditions David Robinson uses this film as an example of Generalized Anxiety Disorder. Not that Woody Allen would have consulted the diagnostic manual before writing the screenplay, but that diagnosis did not appear in the official nomenclature until DSM-III in 1980. At the time Allen made the film the closest fit would likely have been Anxiety Neurosis. APA's DSM-II defined this condition:

"This neurosis is characterized by anxious over-concern extending to panic and frequently associated with somatic symptoms."

Alvy, and to a lesser extent Annie, to me represent the popular notion of neurosis, and the failure of psychoanalysis to cure it, rather than even a rough approximation of Generalized Anxiety Disorder, although the two diagnoses may share some common ground. Some of the characters' quirkiness, paranoia, and ambivalence might relate more to personality traits, but Alvy never tells us exactly what he hopes the treatment will help him change or cure. We also see some of the myth of New Yorkers' dependence on the treatment.

Freud comes up several times: (0:01); "latency period" (0:04); "... I was in analysis with a strict Freudian, and if you kill yourself, they make you pay for the sessions you miss."

References to psychoanalysis appear early in the film, too: (0:03); (0:22); (0:23); Alvy complains of 15 years in analysis with little or no progress (0:28); (0:46).

Annie describes her first session of treatment, noting that she was allowed to sit upright rather than lie on the couch. She describes the session, including her introduction to the concept of penis envy, to Alvy, who says he suffers from the malady himself while also expressing envy of her apparently rapid progress. She has even discussed dreams and her recollection of witnessing her parents having sex (0:50).

In a split screen we see simultaneously Annie sitting in her psychotherapist's bright office on the left while Alvy lies on the couch with his aged psychoanalyst in the background in a dark office (1:09). Is Allen making a statement that formal psychoanalytic methods take a lot of time and money to go nowhere compared to newer, less formal psychotherapy methods? The fact that he pays for Annie's treatment only intensifies Alvy's jealousy.

Annie mentions "Narcolepsy" and "shell shock" in a story about a member of her family (0:29).

Marijuana: Annie and Alvy discuss the drug while Annie smokes a joint (0:35); compared to sodium pentathol in another discussion as something Annie needs in order to engage in sexual activity (0:40)

In a flash back Alvy's ex-wife, disturbed by sounds of the city at night, lunges for her Valium (0:23)

Cocaine: Alvy admits that he has "never snorted coke." As his host explains that the drug costs $2,000 an ounce Alvy examines the container, and on touching a small amount to his nose, sneezes, sending a cloud of the expensive substance into the air (1:10).

cannabis | cocaine | diazepam | neurosis | psychoanalysis | psychoanalyst | Sigmund Freud | suicide

Adam's Rib

Adam threatens suicide by placing the barrel of a revolver in his mouth, finger on the trigger, but then takes a bite and admits it is only licorice (1:30).

suicide

Boudu Saved from Drowning

After his dog wanders off, Priapus Boudu, whom we would refer to now as a homeless person, gives away what appears to be his only possession, some money given him by a little girl (0:11), and jumps in the Seine intent on ending his life (0:16). Edouard, seeing him jump, rescues him and revives him with an early form of "artificial respiration," but on regaining consciousness, he says he is fed up with life and, "I'll just have to try again" (0:24).

Boudu later complains to one of the female characters that had he not been saved he would be in heaven, but she reminds him, "Suicides don't go to heaven" (0:47).

Emma (?) says to herself twice, "I have nerves." (0:52). Does she mean she feels anxious?

Boudu's behavior defies classification. At times he acts like a child or clown with little regard for the consequences of his behavior. Emma calls him a "cave man." At times he displays sexual process, true to his name. At other times he conforms at least partially to social norms.

I could not determine Ernest's relationship to the other characters, but his recent death comes up at least twice in passing.

bereavement | suicide

Hiroshima Mon Amour

A Japanese man and French woman meet in Hiroshima. She recalls and recounts to him for the first time the loss of her German lover during the war.

bereavement

Birdy

Spoiler Alert!

A challenging case study for differential diagnosis: Schizophrenia vs. Posttraumatic Stress Disorder -- or both. Any others? We see clear evidence of combat-related trauma and no evidence of thought disorder, but Birdy, during his late teens, also becomes increasingly socially disinterested with an autistic obsession with birds and fantasies of becoming one. Al, Birdy's close friend through their teens, combat injured himself, visits Birdy in a military psychiatric hospital at the behest of the psychiatrist, Dr. Weiss, who hopes that Al can help pull Birdy out of a mute, catatonic state in which he assumes odd postures suggestive of those of birds, often staring enviously at the window where he sees, or imagines to see, flocks of them flying free. Aside from visits from Al we see no treatment. Part way into the film I found myself seeing Al's efforts as psychotherapy.

Many scenes take place in Birdy's cell-like room in a military psychiatric hospital: Birdy hallucinating voices? (0:01); Al visits Birdy. (0:17); curled up naked, watching birds (0:31); He appears anxious, perhaps claustrophobic (0:43); with Al (0:45); posturing while Al talks to him (0:51); Al feeding Birdy (0:58); Birdy seems to smile. Weiss must have said something about dissociation to Al (1:10); Al yelling at Birdy (1:23); Birdy experiences a disturbing vision of a cat stalking while a nurse bathes him (1:19); perching in like a bird on the end of his bed (1:26); Al feeding him (1:38); exposure to the collection of baseballs has no effect (1:42); Birdy's fantasy of flying followed by crying. Al says he will not leave him, holds him, starts to talk about his own pain. (1:50); Birdy talks (1:54), but stops talking when Dr. Weiss walks in, so Weiss tries to have Al removed. Al and Birdy escape to the roof where Al watches in horror as Birdy tries to fly off the edge. When he gets to the edge and looks over, Birdy looks up from a level a few feet below: "What!?" (1:56)

Dr. Weiss, the psychiatrist: telling Al Birdy was missing in action (We learn why later.) and has been mute ever since (0:17); interviewing Al about Birdy's history (0:19); asking Al about his family history, "... history of insanity... suicides in your family?" (0:55); getting angry, warning Al that Birdy could be institutionalized for the rest of his life if they cannot get him to talk (0:57); telling Al Birdy may require medication, that there's no point in continuing their efforts (1:10); agreeing to allow enough time to get the baseballs Birdy's mom confiscated during their childhood (Al tells him Birdy felt guilty about this.) in the hope that seeing them will jog something in Birdy (1:11)

Occupational therapy at the hospital (0:22)

Al recalls combat in Vietnam: a nightmare about combat (0:53); getting injured (1:39)

In Vietnam combat Birdy survives a chopper crash only to see flocks of birds destroyed by napalm (1:48)

Birdy's experiences with Birds in his late teens may offer clues: at home taking his canary from the jaws of a cat, saving it (1:21); dreaming about flying with birds, blurring fantasy and reality, wishing he could die and be reborn as a bird (1:35); tellin Al about his experience of flying after the prom: "When I fly I am a bird" (1:43); his canary dies when it crashes through the window after he calls it back to him; (1:46)

catatonia | dissociation | mutism | Posttraumatic Stress Disorder | psychiatric hospital | psychiatrist | Schizophrenia

Maria Full of Grace

This story based on fact illustrates the process and perils of transporting drugs internally, also known as body packing, by smugglers known as mules or swallowers, from Columbia.

Lucy tells Maria, "If one [pellet] breaks, you'll die." (0:33)

We see a technician (?) measure a white powder drug into the severed fingers of rubber gloves, then compress and double-knot them. He then sprays her throat with what is later referred to as an "anesthetic" to facilitate her swallowing 50 or more of the resulting pellets, also using an unspecified liquid as a lubricant (0:39). She passes some of them in the toilet of the airplane in route to the New York area and has to clean and swallow them again (0:49). She avoids detection going through U.S. Customs only because she tests positive for pregnancy, and Customs as a matter of policy does not x-ray pregnant women.

Drug dealers keep the women in a hotel room while they collect the pellets by forcing them to defecate into a bathtub (1:00). Lucy becomes intoxicated, probably from a ruptured pellet (1:00). When Maria and Blanca see the dealers carry her body away they find the bathtub splattered "with blood, presumably a result of "surgical" removal of the drugs from her bowel. Before she dies Lucy appears lethargic rather than agitated. Does this suggest the pellets contained heroin rather than cocaine?

The remainder of the film plays out in the Jackson Heights (Queens), New York neighborhood, a "little Columbia" where Don Fernando, played by Orlando Tobón, who also served as associate producer, runs a store front travel agency. "Don Orlando," as he is known in the community there in real life, has actually taken it upon himself to help when these desperate individuals have died when drug pellets leaked inside them.

bereavement | drug | Orlando Tobón | overdose

Something's Gotta Give

When Harry tells him it was an accident, Dr. Mercer quotes Sigmund Freud (0:34): "You know what Freud  said, 'There are no accidents.'"

Harry recovers well from a mild heart attack, but two more episodes with chest pain and other similar symptoms also treated in an emergency department start in stressful situations and turn out to be panic attacks (1:25, 1:43). After the second episode the doctor administers relaxation training.

panic attack | relaxation training | Sigmund Freud

Defiance

Early in the story (0:15), when Aron Bielski, the youngest of the brothers, fails to speak, someone explains, "He saw things," apparently meaning that he witnessed atrocities. Later in the film he spontaneously recovers his ability to talk.

mutism

Ice Castles

Lexie's head injury (~1:04) and resulting subdural hematoma (?) leave her mostly blind but with no evidence of Dementia. How much did the loss of her mother influence her character and her skating career?

Bereavement

Man on Wire

A fitting memorial to the twin towers. Philipe Petit provides a rare (for cinema, at least) first person description of his psychiatric evaluation at Beekman Downtown Hospital after walking a tightrope between the World Trade Center towers. Might this behavior be considered counterphobic? Could a psychotherapist use this film to treat acrophobia with graduated exposure?

acrophobia | counterphobic | psychiatric examination

Up in the Air

When Ryan and Natalie tell a woman she has lost her job, she tells them she will jump off a bridge (0:42). Natalie voices concern, but Ryan assures her that the woman will not do this. Later, however, Craig tells Ryan that a woman has killed herself, and that Natalie has left the firm (1:39). Should Natalie or Ryan have done something to prevent this suicide?

suicide

The Basketball Diaries

From the autobiography of Jim Carroll of the same name the film dramatizes his early experiences with addiction.

Jim and his friends huff the fumes from solvent soaked rags on a ferry (0:04). He writes about huffing "carbonic cleaning fluid" (0:24).

Jim snorts cocaine (?) with a straw (0:29, 0:31).

Jim takes unidentified pills to get high (0:32).

Jim views the body of his dead friend Bobby in church (0:33).

His friends share a joint (0:34) while Jim grieves Bobby's death (0:35).

Jim's first experience using heroin (0:38). He describes developing addiction (0:41), withdrawal (0:44) and thoughts of stopping.

Jim snorts heroin (0:45). He talks about how he wants to stop but cannot (0:47).

In the locker room before a basketball game Jim  and his friends examine unidentified pills, wondering which are "uppers." Jim takes a black one (0:49); all three become intoxicated, unable to play (0:51).

At their home Jim's mother confronts him with his pill stash and kicks him out (0:56).

Mickey applies a tourniquet and injects himself in the back seat of a car the three friends have stolen to get money for drugs (0:58).

Jim injects himself in a "shooting gallery" (1:00). A junkie cooks heroin with a spoon and candle while Jim watches (1:02).

Scenes alternate between Jim with a needle and his mother praying for him; Jom nods (1:03).

Mickey dramatically pretends to shoot himself in the head with a pistol he steals from a store the three rob hoping to find money for drugs (1:06).

Reggie flushes Jim's drugs (1:15), forces Jim to withdraw in his friend's apartment (1:17) beginning one of the most graphic and extended scenes depicting heroin withdrawal I have seen in a film.

After tasting newly purchased heroin Jim announces to his friends that it is no good (1:26).

With obvious pain Jim's mother refuses to give him money or let him in the apartment (1:30). She calls police who arrest him. This appears to lead to a period of recovery. He talks about staying clean in prison even though he could easily obtain "junk" there (1:34).

After his release from prison Jim turns down heroin offered by his friend Pedro whom he encounters at a theater entrance (1:36). We see him, sitting enveloped in darkness, deliver a monologue about addicts, then the lights come up, revealing an audience (1:36).

addiction | bereavement | drug | heroin | huffing | inhalant | Jim Carroll | Opioid Intoxication | Opioid Withdrawal | suicide

Adam

The APA classifies Asperger's Disorder as a psychiatric disorder, but this Autism spectrum disorder first appears in childhood, and, possibly because no specific treatment exists, adult psychiatrists mostly see patients with treatable comorbid disorders. In my own practice forensic cases have equaled clinical cases.

The film illustrates the challenges an individual with Asperger's faces in attempting to make a love relationship work, while reminding us that "neurotypicals" (or NT's) as Adam calls them, may be challenged as well. Might some characteristics of Asperger's individuals actually make them better able to function  in relationships? Adam seems incapable of betraying Beth in ways that her own father and her previous male partner have.

The film opens at a funeral which we soon realize memorializes Adam's father. Later we discover that his mother died during his childhood. We mostly must guess at how he experiences either loss.

Adam explains to Beth that because of his Asperger's disorder he lacks the capacity to "know what people are thinking" (0:30) and introduces the term neurotypical and the acronym NT before explaining that he suffers from "mind blindness" (0:31). The director of the school where Beth teaches also educates her about this "autism spectrum" problem and recommends the book Pretending to Be Normal - Living With Asperger's Syndrome (0:32).

Beth's retelling of the story of The Emperor's New Clothes elicits responses from her audience of school children that demonstrate the ambivalence with which we regard a guilelessly forthright boy (0:42).

We see other characteristics that may be associated with Asperger's:

Social awkwardness when Adam meets Beth (0:06)
Limited range of interest: Adam's cupboards contain only a few different foods (0:02), (0:08)
Inability to guess the needs of others: Adam fails to recognize that Beth needs help pulling her shopping cart up the stairs (0:09)
Self--consciousness (0:15)
Perseveration: in conversation with Harlan (0:17), (0:45)
Avoidance of eye contact (0:24)
Peculiar postures and gait: (0:25) How would you describe Adam's?
Difficulty adapting to change: Adam refuses to consider moving to a less expensive home (0:34).
Repetitive movement: rocking (0:35).
Concrete thinking: When Beth asks, "Can you give me a hug?" he answers, "yes," but only after she asks him to give her a hug does he respond (0:41).
Impaired capacity to respond to social cues: (0:49, 0:55)

Adam reacts to a disappointment by banging his head against a mirror, breaking it (0:27).  He explodes after he catches Beth in a white lie (1:12). Does he overvalue his perception of her honesty? Are these  behaviors characteristic of Asperger's?

Adam mimics Beth's postures (1:05). Is this characteristic of Asperger's?

Are Adam's superior memory and intelligence typical of Asperger's? Would they qualify him as a savant?

Anxiety seems to inhibit Adam (0:11). Does this stem from a separate problem like Social Phobia or from Asperger's?

People with Asperger's may not seem to belong with the NT's of the world, but as Adam says about the raccoons he likes to watch in Central Park, "There they are."

anxiety | Asperger's Disorder | bereavement | concrete thinking | perseveration

Deliverance

A boy with dysmorphic features plays the banjo expertly. Is he mentally retarded or should we disregard his appearance?

idiot savant | mental retardation

A Painted House

Tally tells Luke her brother Trot  is not "right." Does he suffer from mental retardation? a physical illness?

Luke keeps secrets from the rest of the family. He shares one with Pappy. Will this likely lead to dysfunction in the family? Does it reflect dysfunction in the family?

family secrets | mental retardation

Babel

Chieko's mother has killed herself, either by jumping from their balcony or by self-inflicted gunshot.

bereavement | suicide

Ordinary People

This story provides a compelling illustration of how the loss of a child can throw an apparently well-functioning family into chaos. Does the surviving son suffer from bereavement, a Major Depressive Episode, or posttraumatic stress disorder? Was the portrayal of the mother unfairly negative relative to that of the father?

Portrayed as one of the most human and approachable, psychiatrists portrayed in cinema, Dr. Berger meets with Conrad alone at his office in the middle of the night. Is such a risky practice wise or necessary? He also hugs Conrad and tells him he is his friend in one encounter. Is this a boundary violation?

Conrad has attempted suicide, and a girl he met at the hospital is reported to have killed herself. He has also undergone electroconvulsive therapy, but I recall no mention of pharmacotherapy which might have been indicated for two of the diagnoses above. Is it really plausible that psychotherapy might have successfully treated what ECT could not, and without medication? I suspect so, and often patients get better without explanation. Phil Guerin's book, Family Therapy: Theory and Practice, sat in Dr. Berger's bookshelf. What approach might a family psychotherapist use with this case?

bereavement | boundaries | electroconvulsive therapy | Major Depressive Episode | posttraumatic stress disorder | psychiatric hospital | psychiatrist | psychotherapy | suicide | survivor guilt

As Good As It Gets

Although Melvin gives Carol (who expresses strong feelings about her HMO) credit for helping him make a decision to start medication for his OCD, the most effective therapy here comes from the developing connections of this unlikely set of New Yorkers. His obnoxious attitude and verbal abuses probably would be explained in real life, not by OCD, but by a (narcissistic?) personality disorder.

narcissism | Narcissistic Personality Disorder | Obsessive Compulsive Disorder | personality disorder | psychiatrist

The Three Faces of Eve

#threefaces

Spoiler Alert!

Dr. Luther shares his psychiatric office with Dr. Day, a neurologist, and consults with him frequently during Eve's treatment which bares no resemblance to psychoanalysis. In fact during most encounters psychiatrist and patient converse freely. Dr. Luther uses no particular psychotherapy technique or intervention except when he hypnotizes Eve, attempting to access repressed memory of presumed childhood trauma. He stands much of the time. Eve White and Jane mostly sit upright, but Eve Black roams the office freely. Luther talks freely about himself, frequently answering Eve's questions directly, but he maintains boundaries in the face of frequent assaults on them by Eve Black in particular. He does not prescribe ECT or medication. The apparent cure seems to occur almost by chance.

Dr. Luther involves Eve's first husband Ralph in the first encounter and occasionally thereafter, but only to gain his perspective on his patient (0:05).

We learn in the initial encounter that Eve "lost a baby" four months prior (0:06), but this seemingly important event does not come up again. However, her attempt to strangle her daughter Bonnie (0:12) leads to precautions to ensure the girl's safety mentioned throughout the story.

Eve tells Dr. Luther she believes she may be going crazy because she hears voices, but with further probing she admits there is only one familiar female voice that tells her to do things (0:15) like leave her husband and run away. Luther reassures her that truly ill patients do not experience their hallucinations as alien (0:17), followed by the first switch to Eve Black (0:18) who, unlike passive Eve White, is assertive, seductive, confidant, uninhibited and happy. When she practically chases Dr. Luther from the office., he excuse himself to seek consultation from Dr. Day next door (0:21). We discover that Eve Black knows Eve White, but Eve White only knows Eve Black from the voice she has described. Eve Black declares she intends to stay "out" and admits that at times she cannot come out (0:23).

Eve White returns, having been admitted to hospital. In the day room Dr. Luther asks her about her marriage (0:25). He asks her directly about whether she has experienced someone else "inside" her (0:28). Dr. Luther meets with Eve Black in her hospital room (0:30). Addressing her seductive behavior directly, he threatens involuntary commitment (0:31) but admits he does not know how to treat her condition (0:32). When he shows his exasperation Eve White returns (0:33).

Dr. Luther first mentions multiple personality disorder to Eve (0:33) then to Ralph, attributing the problem to as yet undiscovered childhood experience. He explains that she cannot control the problem, that she is not crazy or psychotic. He lapses into psychiatric jargon but aborts the conversation when he realizes Ralph cannot understand him and takes him to meet with his wife (0:36). He then summons Eve Black who stands up to Ralph when he attempts to assert control over her.

The two physicians consult again (0:57). They agree that neither alter comprises a complete, healthy, functioning personality and that they find no opportunity for addressing the root cause of her illness in her "abnormally normal history" (0:58).

Eve Black, meeting again with Dr. Luther, showing him her bandaged wrist, explains that she stopped Eve White from killing herself with a razor blade the night before (0:58). Eve White then admits she has been "very low" (1:00). Dr. Luther hypnotizes her, takes notes. When a third alter emerges, he takes her to Dr. Day (1:02). They agree to call her Jane (1:05). In contrast to the two Eves she seems thoughtful, steady, undepressed but mature, and actively interested in solving the mystery. She has lost the southern accent.

In another encounter Eve White tells Dr. Luther Jane will survive (1:10). When Jane cannot recall her childhood he hypnotizes her again (1:15). She begins to recall a disturbing experience but cannot describe it fully (1:19). Dr. Luther admits that he likes Jane and Eve Black, but when the latter asks him to take her out he again cites professional boundaries indicating that would be "against the rules" (1:21), but then he accepts Eve Black's gift of her red dress. Is this a boundary violation?

Eve screams (1:25). Dr. Luther holds her. The film flashes back to Eve as a young girl and the repressed memory of her mother forcing her, against her objections, to kiss the corpse of her dead aunt (1:26). The apparent abreaction allows Jane to recount detailed memories from throughout her childhood to Dr. Luther (1:28).

abreaction | alter | Bereavement | boundaries | Dissociative Amnesia | Dissociative Identity Disorder | hallucination | hypnosis | psychiatric hospital | psychiatrist | psychotherapy | repressed memory | suicide | switching

Read the book:

The Weather Man

The weatherman, David, desperately wants his overachieving father's approval and for his own broken family to work, seemingly out of caring for the kids rather than to win their mother back. He stumbles frequently but does not give up. We can only guess about the family he grew up in, except that his father, even before diagnosis of a terminal cancer, seems unable to connect. His mother seems to barely exist in his life. Triangle? I do not recall hearing the word "love" between any two family members in the entire film. But David comes through for his daughter (buying her clothes) and son ("taking care of" the pedophile recovery counselor) in ways we cannot imagine of his own father, and the kids appear to know he loves them. In the end he starts to gain self-acceptance.

When Don, Mike's counselor from rehab, pays for his purchase of a sweater at a department store (0:13) he starts a series of boundary transgressions. Don buys him a theater ticket (0:22). Mike comes to Don's home for dinner where he serves him beer and photographs him with his shirt off, then offers to loan him money for a new camera (0:40). Ultimately we learn that Don has attempted to sexually abuse Mike.

David and his ex attend a multiple family therapy session (0:31).

A living funeral is held for David's father (1:09).

bereavement | boundaries | counselor | distance | multiple family therapy | multigenerational transmission | Pedophilia | Sexual Abuse of Child

Paris 36

At the stroke of midnight on New Year's the eve of 1936 the theater owner, unable to pay the bills, has just signed over the business and his whole life. We see him aim a pistol at his head, the camera moves to an aerial view of the theater from the street, and we hear a gunshot (0:09).

Pigoil, distraught over another apparent failure of the theater has climbed a ladder high on a sign outside after we hear that he has been drinking. He appears to fall by accident.

Until late in the film we discover little about Max except that he does not want to "go out." Finally, hearing on the radio a song he has written being sung by a young woman he believes may be Rose's daughter, he realizes that he must leave to find her. He musters his courage, and with ovious anxiety, frees himself from the bonds of Agoraphobia (1:13).

Agoraphobia | suicide

Rosemary's Baby

Soon after Rosemary meets her Terry's body lies in a pool of blood on the sidewalk next to a car with a bloody, bashed in roof (0:16). Those who knew her argue over whether she might have killed herself. Roman describes her as "deeply depressed every three weeks" (0:17). As the story unfolds we find more evidence for suicide as well as more reason to suspect murder. Concurrently evidence develops on both sides of the question of whether Rosemary suffers from delusions or whether others conspire against her invoking witchcraft or other supernatural activity.

Brief references to marijuana (0:04) and drug addicts (0:07). Terry tells Rosemary, "I was on dope."(0:14).

When Rosemary tells Dr. Hill about a "plot against me," he appears to believe her, but betrays her and his own disbelief by contacting the doctor (Sapirstein) she believes conspires against her. She does, however, allow that these events might be coincidental. (1:44, 1:46) Dr. Sapirstein threatens she must cooperate to avoid forcing him to "take you to a mental hospital." Later, when she becomes agitated he approaches with a syringe with "nothing but a mild sedative to calm you down" and injects her arm (1:56). A second injection (2:00). Her husband tells her she suffers from "some kind of hysteria" or "pre-partum crazies."

delusion | sedative | suicide

Panic

New post

Men, women, marriage, affairs, guns, killing, generations, husbands, wives, psychotherapy, boundaries, the duty to protect, family secrets, emptiness, but most of all fathers and sons. Endless unanswered questions and a glimmer of hope that our sons can be better than their fathers.

boundaries | family secrets | psychologist | psychotherapist | psychotherapy