the-girl-most-likely-kristen-wiigWritten by Joanna Gilkes

If you’re an able-bodied actor, portraying a character with a physical disability in a film it’s likely to earn you your very own Academy Award: it worked for Eddie Redmayne, owing to his uncanny depiction of Stephen Hawking and his journey from scholar to world-reknown physicist, via his diagnosis of motor-neurone disease, in THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING (2014). Daniel Day-Lewis scored his first of a hat-trick of acting Oscars for MY LEFT FOOT (1990), for his painstaking portrayal of Irish author and painter Christy Brown, who had cerebral palsy. And Gary Sinise won the title of Best Supporting Actor for his impressive turn as amputee Lieutenant Dan Taylor in FORREST GUMP (1994).

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Even if an Oscar isn’t yours for the taking, playing a character with a physical disability is largely a sure-fire bet to receiving a nomination, at the very least. Tom Cruise gained new-found respect as as a paralysed Vietnam soldier in BORN ON THE FOURTH OF JULY (1990), narrowly missing out to Day-Lewis in his aforementioned film. Emily Watson was recognised for bringing the life of accomplished cellist and mutiple-sclerosis sufferer Jaqueline du Pre to the big screen in HILARY AND JACKIE (1998). And Woody Harrelson received plaudits for his starring role as paralysed publisher Larry Flynt in LARRY FLYNT VS. THE PEOPLE (1996).

Learning and/or developmental difficulties are also a good way for actors to show off their acting credentials. Tom Hanks won his second Oscar for his lead role as FORREST GUMP (1994), as did Dustin Hoffman for his mesmerising take on being an autistic savant in RAIN MAN (1988). And although Sean Penn couldn’t equal Hanks and Hoffman with a Best Actor Oscar, he did bag himself a nomination for I AM SAM (2001).

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Hollywood seems less comfortable when addressing mental health (or, specifically, mental ill-health) however. To me, many cinematic depictions of mental health seem to be a little ‘off’ – actors often play ‘big’ when trying to convey the nuances of mental health symptoms; or the subject-matter itself is played for laughs, and sometimes inappropriately so; or mental ill health is increasingly confused with criminality – and I’d say that this was the most common mistake of all. In this article, I’ll be looking at mental health in the movies – and commenting on which movies and performances I think got it right, and which ones I believe missed the mark somewhat. I’ll also be offering up my suggestions of which films to check out to gain an insight into mental health.

Having said all that about Hollywood’s approach to mental health, I think it’s only fair to point out from the outset that there are exceptions to my rule about acting awards – namely ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST (1975) and GIRL, INTERRUPTED (1999). Jack Nicholson took home 1976’s Best Actor award for ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST for his performance as rebellious criminal Mac, who transfers from a 1960’s prison to a psychiatric ward in an attempt to avoid hard labour, despite not showing any signs of mental illness himself. Nicholson’s co-star Brad Dourif also picked up the Best Supporting Actor prize for his role as Billy Bibbit, an anxiety-ridden man inflicted with a pronounced stutter. Twenty-four years later, Angelie Jolie was awarded with a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for GIRL, INTERRUPTED in which she featured as spiteful sociopath Lisa. The film was based on the memoirs of Susanna Kaysen who endured an 18 month stay in a psychiatric hospital during the 1960’s after being diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder; and Kaysen’s character was played by Winona Ryder.

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As well acting honours, what also unites these two titles is their settings and time-periods: both films are set in American mental institutes of the Sixties, and I think that Hollywood feels more confident when showcasing and containing mental health in a ‘hospital setting.’ As is the case with psychiatric wards today, people with a diverse array of diagnoses are treated side by side with each other, often irrespective of the severity of their individual diagnoses. In these two films, we witness a spectrum of symptoms from delusion and paranoia, to behavioural and eating disorders. While it gives the actors an opportunity to compete with each other, raising their game in the acting stakes – it also goes some way to creating the myth that mental ill health predominantly occurs only in hospital.

So what about mental ill health in everyday life, and those who experience it? Well, Hollywood would have us believe that a mental health diagnosis is often synonymous with genius-like intellect, as in SHINE (1996) and A BEAUTIFUL MIND (2001). In SHINE, Geoffrey Rush starred as Australian concert pianist David Helfgott, who showed signs of schizoaffective disorder in his early twenties, later suffering a breakdown necessitating in a hospital admission and electroconvulsive therapy or ECT. Russell Crowe headlined the biographical re-imagining of the life of John Nash, a Nobel Laureate of Economics, who developed paranoid schizophrenia. Both Rush and Crowe won Best Actor Oscars for their performances. But what about the more ordinary and unremarkable mental health sufferers out there? What about those unfortunate enough to not be born without a notably impressive talent or as an academic genius?

There is a different type of genius that exists, however – especially in Hollywood: behold the ‘evil genius.’ The term ‘psycho’ has entered the popular lexicon probably owing to Alfred Hitchcock’s seminal classic of the same name, and yet the Diagnostic And Statistical Manual On Mental Disorders (or the DSM, the leading authority on such matters) doesn’t recognise ‘psychopathy’ as a mental disorder. It has since introduced ‘antisocial personality disorder’ and ‘dissocial personality disorder’ into its ranks, however. So when we see the results of Glenn Close’s creative cookery lesson in FATAL ATTRACTION (1987) – which spawned the popular phrase ‘bunny boiler’ – we’re witnessing someone beyond a breakdown; we’re witnessing someone who has those psychopathic tendencies anyway, and who now has a suitable outlet for them. Similarly, while Heath Ledger’s Joker gives us an insight into his abusive childhood in THE DARK KNIGHT (2008) his delight in setting off on a killing spree cannot be explained or justified with an explanation of mental illness.

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I can personally testify that having a breakdown is like being in a horror film, so perhaps this is why mental ill health lends itself so well to the genre? Asylums are creepy places at the best of times; throw in a bunch of fresh-faced American teens who just happened to stumble upon a deserted one, as in BOO (2005); or an asylum ran by a raving meglomaniac hell-bent on experimenting on their patients, as in the Adrien Brody-vehicle THE JACKET (2005) and it doesn’t bode well for those involved. Psychiatrists don’t fare better either – especially when they become psychiatric patients themselves, as Halle Berry unwittingly finds herself in 2003’s GOTHIKA.

But what do you do if you’re Amanda Seyfried in GONE (2012), who was kidnapped by a serial killer and imprisoned at the bottom of an impossibly steep hole, only to escape and have your sister abducted by the same assailant years later? If you find yourself sectioned like Seyfried’s character and therefore consequently have a ‘history of mental illness,’ the police are not going to believe you at all – fact! So you’ll have to go it alone and hunt down the serial killer all by yourself.

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Many people still mistakenly believe that schizophrenia means having a split personality. The way that schizophrenia was described to me by someone who worked closely with those affected by it, has stayed with me ever since: schizophrenia is like that moment when you awake, and you’re not sure whether you actually are awake or are still dreaming. It’s probably the one mental health diagnosis that has received the most polar opposite treatment on the silver screen, in ME, MYSELF AND IRENE (2000) and David Cronenberg’s SPIDER (2002). In ME, MYSELF AND IRENE, Jim Carrey appears as state trooper Charlie, who has a psychotic breakdown, which results in the emergence of a second personality, who goes by the name of Hank. Of course, as this film was brought to us by the Farelly Brothers, mental illness is going to be played for big belly-laughs here, rather than considered in a more sensitive discourse. But compare this comedy’s handling of schizophrenia with SPIDER’s psychological take on it, in which Ralph Fiennes’ Dennis Cleg starts to relive his childhood during a stay at a halfway house for ‘disturbed men’ after he’s released from a mental institution. In SPIDER, schizophrenia is both the trigger and the cause of Cleg’s later criminality, as he goes on to kill.

I was so looking forward to SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK (2012) – I wanted it to be the definitive film about Bipolar Disorder. But sometimes Hollywood only gives its filmmakers one shot at getting it right first time – and then swiftly moves on to other matters. It feels like Bipolar Disorder has been ‘covered’ now and will not be returned to for many years, if at all. Bradley Cooper’s performance as Pat Solitano in SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK was Bipolar with a capital B – Bradley went BIG, very BIG, and confused ‘shouting’ with ‘acting.’ It was a performance that I believed overlooked the subtleties of the condition, unfortunately.

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So when did the movies get it right about mental health? Sometimes, it may come down to just a line or image which, however fleeting, can capture what it truly means to be mentally unwell. I think the image of Gina McKee’s character sat on the top deck of a London night bus, surrounded by lairy revellers yet openly in tears herself, in Michael Winterbottom’s WONDERLAND (1999), perfectly sums up what it feels like to be alone, lonely and depressed. Similarly, SHOPGIRL (2005) is elevated from a run-of-the-mill rom com about Claire Danes and her two mismatched suitors, to a moving drama when Danes’ deliberately takes an overdose of her antidepressants. It’s movie moments like this that you’re not expecting, that I find stay with you the longest.

So before I sign off, I’ll leave you with two more recommendations, both of which star comedian Kristen Wiig (of BRIDESMAIDS fame) in largely dramatic roles – and I think she’s a relevelation. In GIRL MOST LIKELY (2012) Wiig’s Imogene is a struggling playwright who attempts suicide to win back her ex-boyfriend. And in WELCOME TO ME (2014), Wiig is Alice, who scoops the Mega-Millions jackpot, promptly quits taking her medication and buys her own reality-show in which she is the star – as you do. What’s refreshing about both films is that they give a fresh perspective on mental illness, via characters who are always interesting, but not always likeable. Both films have a contemporary feel and are set outside of a hospital environment – so it feels like mental health in the movies is finally moving on.

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