Film Medical Theme: Dépression

Magnolia

Language : English

Year : 1999

Medical Theme : Depression

Actors : Jeremy Blackman, Tom Cruise, Philip Baker Hall

Storyline : Magnolia is a drama that focuses on various people and the troubles they face in their everyday lives. The film starts with a strange accident, where a father accidentally shoots his son who is already in the middle of killing himself. The film ends by saying how our lives are made of such small accidents and about their importance in our lives. The characters in the film are mostly depressed people who struggle to cope with their problems in life.

Prozac Nation

Language : English

Year : 2001

Medical Theme : Clinical Depression

Actors : Christina Ricci, Jason Biggs, Anne Heche, Michelle Williams, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Jessica Lange, Jesse Moss, Nicholas Campbell, Zoe Miller, Sheila Paterson, Rob Freeman, Nicole Parker, Frida Betrani, Klodyne Rodney, Ian Tracey

Storyline : Elizabeth is a teenager accepted into Harvard with a scholarship in journalism has been raised by her divorced mother Mrs. Wurtzel since she was two years old, However she misses her father and become depressed. When she joins the university, she lives with a roommate Ruby and has her sexual initiation with Noah. Her article for the local column in Crimson newspaper is awarded by Rolling Stone magazine. Elizabeth turns abusive in sex and drugs, and her depression increases and she hurts her friends and her mother that love her, while she is dating Rafe. Her mother sends her to an expensive psychiatric treatment with Dr. Sterling, in spite of having difficulties paying for her medical bills and therapy sessions. After a long period of treatment under medication, and suicide attempt, Lizzie stabilizes and adjusts to the real world.

Revolutionary Road

Language : English

Year : 2008

Medical Theme : Pregnancy/ Abortion/ Depression

Actors : Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Michael Shannon

Storyline : Frank Wheeler is a middle class man and he marries April, who is an actor and they both together move to a new place to raise their family, the Revolutionary Road. April is first very happy in Revolutionary Road, but soon becomes depressed after her acting carrier flops and then she starts to see very little purpose in her life. So she decides to leave for Paris, hoping it will do her and her husband good and she also manages to convince Frank in doing the same. But Frank decides to drop the plan in the last minuete, thinking it is just a childish adventure and the decision has a major mental impact on April. Then eventually one day out of too much depression she does for herself her own instillation abortion, which proves to be too fatal that she ends up loosing her own life.

Sylvia

Language : English

Year : 2003

Medical Theme : Depression

Actors : David Birkin, Alison Bruce, Amira Casar, Daniel Craig, Blythe Danner, Lucy Davenport, Julian Firth, Jeremy Fowlds, Michael Gambon, Sarah Guyler, Jared Harris, Andrew Havill, Theresa Healey, Liddy Holloway, Robyn Malcolm

Storyline : Talented but plagued by her owns demons, Sylvia Plath lacks inspiration and increasingly suspects her husband Ted's ambition and success to his infidelity in their early years of marriage. It is to be seen if Sylvia's own insecurities were due to Ted's extra-marital affairs or Sylvia's deepening depression is actually exacerbated by her husbands philandering. When the two get separated in the end, Sylvia, Sylvia is able to truly explore the dark depths of her soul and write the searingly brilliant poetry that earned her fame.

The Horse Whisperer

Language : English

Year : 1998

Medical Theme : Bi-Polar Depression

Actors : Robert Redford, Kristin Scott Thomas, Sam Neill, Dianne Wiest, Scarlett Johansson, Chris Cooper, Cherry Jones, Ty Hillman, Kate Bosworth, Austin Schwarz, Dustin Schwarz, Jeanette Nolan, Steve Frye, Don Edwards, Jessalyn Gilsig

Storyline : Grace and Judith go horse-riding and meet with a terrible accident with a truck that kills Judith and her horse. and leave Grace and her horse, Pilgrim, are seriously injured, both physically and mentally. Grace's mother Annie takes them to Montana where Tom a horse whisperer having the capacity to communicate with horses helps change Annie's view of life and he helps heal both Pilgrim and Grace.

The Hours

Language : English

Year : 2002

Medical Theme : Clinical Depression

Actors : Sean Penn, Naomi Watts, Don Cheadle, Jack Thompson, Brad William Henke, Nick Searcy, Michael Wincott, Mykelti Williamson, April Grace, Lily Knight, Jared Dorrance, Jenna Milton, Mariah Massa, Eileen Ryan, Derek Greene

Storyline : The main theme of the film is wondering if it is better to live your life for your own happiness or otherwise. Virginia Woolf who has started to write her book 'Mrs. Dalloway' in 1923 in England, comes to the realization of her lesbianism and fighting her pure despair of life with headaches. Virginia's sister Vanessa and Vanessa's two sons and daughter pay her a visit and the daughter plays a strong influence on Virginia's emotions through the death of a bird. Eventually, Virgnia must face the decision to run away to London and stay with her beloved husband, or move to London where the doctors forbid her to go. Laura Brown reading 'Mrs. Dalloway, in 1951 living in Los Angeles, is a mother fearing her ability to be a mother again. She is trying to throw a wonderful birthday party for her husband and thinks she won't be an adequate mother to her son and the baby she is expecting.current baby on the way in a few months. Laura must make the decision to run away from it all or live miserably with her happy husband. Clarissa Vaughan Clarissa is also throwing a party for her poet-friend, Richard, who is dying of AIDS. All the three stories are interconnected with the novel mentioned before, as one is writing it, one is reading it, and one is living it.

The Assassination of Richard Nixon

Language : English

Year : 2004

Medical Theme : Clinical Depression

Actors : Sean Penn, Naomi Watts, Don Cheadle, Jack Thompson, Brad William Henke, Nick Searcy, Michael Wincott, Mykelti Williamson, April Grace, Lily Knight, Jared Dorrance, Jenna Milton, Mariah Massa, Eileen Ryan, Derek Greene

Storyline : In 1974 Samuel Joseph Byck attempted to hijack a plane and fly it into the White House to kill Richard Nixon. Samuel Joseph Byck is a lonely, ineffectual incompetent person who feels wronged by his family, friends, employers and the world in general, Sam Byck though his problems are largely of his own making and his petulant refusal to compromise what he sees as his 'values'. He loses his job and continuously deceives his friends, and steals from them. Elaborate plans for success fonder on equally avoidable issues. As his world falls apart, he fantasizes Richard Nixon as his ultimate enemy, and Leonard Bernstein as his only friend and equal. As a bleak future closes in, Samuel Joseph Byck mounts the assassination - with characteristic incompetence.

The Butcher Boy

Language : English

Year : 1998

Medical Theme : Clinical Depression

Actors : Eamonn Owens, Sean McGinley, Peter Gowen, Alan Boyle, Andrew Fullerton, Fiona Shaw, Aisling O'Sullivan,Stephen Rea, John Kavanagh, Rosaleen Linehan, Anita Reeves, Gina Moxley, Niall Buggy, Ian Hart, Anne O'Neill

Storyline : Francie and Joe are playful normal boys, however they live with a violent, alcoholic father and a manic-depressive, suicidal mother. When his mother eventually commits suicide and Joe goes off to boarding school, Francie becomes paranoid of his nasty neighbor Mrs. Nugent and erratic ending in the extremely bloody murder of Mrs. Nugent whom he holds responsible for all the wrongs visited upon him. The authorities arrest Francie and arrange to put him into a mental institution where he meets an angel called Our Lady.

The Visitor

Language : English

Year : 2008

Medical Theme : Depression

Actors : Richard Jenkins, Haaz Sleiman, Danai Jekesai, Hiam Abbass

Storyline : Walter Vale is an economics professor who lives in Connecticut. He lost his wife a few years’ back and he lives alone in his apartment. One day when he enters his apartment after a long gap, he finds a young couple living there. After a little unpleasant confrontation between the two parties, the couple agrees to leave the apartment, because during the time of their argument with Walter they come to know they were being cheated by one of their friends. After they leave, Walter finds their framed photograph on the table and when he takes to them their photograph, Walter becomes friendly with them and his whole life transforms completely as their friendship proceeds.

The Serpent’s Egg

Language : English

Year : 1977

Medical Theme : Depression / suicide / prostitution

Actors : Liv Ullmann, David Carradine, Gert Frobe

Storyline : Abel Rosenberg is a Jew living in Berlin during World War 2. He has only recently lost his brother, who killed himself in his bedroom. Abel is depressed and the war has made him financially broke and has also made it impossible to earn a decent living for himself. He lives with his sister-in-law Manuela, who is a prostitute and a cabaret dancer. Heinz offers to let Manuela and Abel live in one of his apartments for free. Abel knows Heinz right from his childhood and he dislikes him from the beginning and when Abel discovers how Heinz is using him and Manuela for his experiments by pumping poisonous gases inside the room where they are staying, his whole life changes and after that Abel’s life will never be the same again.

Mad Love

Language : English

Year : 1995

Medical Theme : Bi-Polar Depression

Actors : Chris O'Donnell, Drew Barrymore

Storyline : Matt and Casey are two teenagers who are opposites by nature but love each other intensely. Matt is studious and has his mind on his upcoming college career, while Casey is a extroverted free-spirit. However, their intense desire for each other makes the normally level-headed Matt to embark spontaneously on a road trip to Mexico with Casey. However in the course of the journey, Matt realizes that the often outrageous, even dangerous behavior of his girlfriend is actually the manifestation of a mental illness and he wants to find ways to get her out of his life.

Don Juan DeMarco

Language : English

Year : 1995

Medical Theme : Obsessive compulsive disorder / depression / suicide

Actors : Johnny Depp, Marlon Brando, Faye Dunaway

Storyline : John Arnold is depressed and is contemplating suicide, but what’s interesting is, he thinks he is Don Juan, the popular fictional character who is known for his exceptional skills in seducing women. So naturally, John is admitted in a mental institution and there he meets Jack Mickler, a psychiatrist who takes interest in John’s case. John and Jack get along quite well and John tells his story to Jack and it has some influence on him. For Jack, curing John and bringing him back to reality will be his last challenge, before he retires from his professional practice altogether.