To afx3000, and anyone else who enjoys movies like this one or girl interrupted , Prozac Nation is blah. not that great but I'm basing that a lot on that I read and re read Prozac Nation which was one if not the 1 best book about teens early adults with those who's lives are similar to Elizabeth's it felt spot on. I was depressed the movie didn't do the book justice, however Christianity aricci was great! Bottom line read the book and her follow-up More,Now,Again. Also great!!

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I know some of these responses are almost 7 years old but two of them were highly offensive and make the posters look like imbeciles.
Rain Man is not about someone with a mental illness, he is autistic.
The Other Sister is not about someone with a mental illness, she is mentally challenged.
Dummies.

Secret cutting- a tv movie about a girl who has self injury issues, and also depression
Copy cat-a movie with sigourney weaver who has post traumatic stress and agoraphobia
Inside Out- about a man with extreme agoraphobia
Sybil-the quintessential mental illness movie starring sally fields as a woman with multiple personalities, now known as Dissociative identity disorder
Don't Say A Word- about a girl in a mental hospital who pretends to have many different mental disorders to hide from people who killed her father (i think in the movie she really only had post traumatic stress)
Rain Man- about autism
Sylvia- about sylvia plath who had depression
Fight Club-the character of edward norton had dissociative identity disorder, and the character of marla singer had depression ( i think)
Identity- also a movie about a man with dissociative identity disorder
The Jacket- a man who is in a mental hospitalits weird because the movie is kind of about him somehow going into the past and the future and changing events or seeing them
The machinist- about a man with dissociative identity disorder
Peacock- about a man with dissociative identity disorder and agoraphobia (it seemed that way to me) who cross dresses as his mother who is dead
Frankie and Alice-with Halle Barry who plays a woman who has Dissociative identity disorder and stays in a mental hospital
The Ward- about a woman in a mental institution who is haunted

Just go to Wikipedia movies with Metal Illness. Many come up in the list, organized by the type of mental illness.

Oooh, I was going to suggest Betty Blue! BEAUTIFUL, haunting movie.
Benny and Joon (to the person who said they thought those characters were just quirky - Joon is mentally ill and shows symptoms of schizophrenia, aspergers and panic attacks).
Gah, I just tried to recommend two others but realised that by associating them with mental illness I was spoiling the plot-twist.

Betty Blue (french)
Benny and Joon and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's nest, already mentioned.

'Simple Jack' was amazing, Ben Stiller should've won the oscar for it!
Who, the beep, are the Knutsens?

tHE bELL jAR and Sybil are AMAZING. I only read the book, "The Bell Jar" though, but still. The Secret Window. if you watch it you'll see why I'm saying that

On The Edge, an Irish film starring Cillian Murphy

Prozac Nation was really good.
"Momento"
"A Clockwork Orange"
"Benny and Joon"

Prozac Nation was wonderful at protraying mental illness. As one with bipolar I thought Christina Ricci should have won an oscar for her role in that film.
Got a beef with me?
penny_lane086@yahoo.com

"The Three Faces Of Eve"
"Sybil"
"A Street Car Named Desire"
"The Bell Jar"
"Lizzie"

I never promised you a rose garden, The house of yes.

What's eating Gilbert GrapeaMAZing movie.not entirely all about mental illness but Leo DiCaprio plays a pretty convincing mentally retarded boy..and Johnny Depp's in it!
'Ello Beastie

Niagra Niagra I think, its been forever since ive seen it but im pretty sure that has what ya looking for

I'm gonna take your advise and try to watch that one,
Blue Sky
.
But i have my prefered ones starting by
Mr. Jones
,1993. I'm bipolar myself, that's why i think it's pretty real (wether i've never had that relation with my shrink).
Some Voices
, 2000 (with new Bond: Daniel Craig) Nice story about another mental illness.
I would also recommend
K-PAX
, 2001. Where almost whole action is taking place in a wonderful psychiatric hospital, and is all about relations doctor-patient.
there should be more

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Exactly what I was thinkingwhen anyone even mentions this type of thing, I instantly think of Sybil and The Three Faces of Eve.
Identity
Me Myself and Irene
Awakenings (in a wayabout catatonia)
Kind of a broad subject though, as mental disorders are numerous. Like are we counting films with sociopaths? Because that would include tons of horror films. Or is this strictly for movies in which the mental disorder is a key subject?
Personally, I think I have too much bloom. Maybe that's the trouble with me.

I don't think they were mentally ill, reallyjust weird. lol
And yall are missing the classic ones. Cybil & the many faces of Eve
I love the snake pitt, it's one of those amazing movies!
The only gripe I have about this movie is that they keep saying she's clinicly depressed when it's so much more. Bipolar & schitzophrenic paranoia at least.
Zack: I like the way you think, sweet thang!
Cody: You like anything she thinks, desperate thang!

Benny and Joon is good.
Official Member of the APEA (adam pascal eyelashaholics anonymous)

I have to say movies about "mental illness" usually disappoint me i saw Prozac Nation but it nowhere near portrays why depression is such a hard disease and nowhere near focuses on the use of Prozac.. when i saw it all i could think was like "alright, so this girl had a hard time dealing with freshman year of college" which, of course, was not the point.
Girl Interrupted was good.. Crazy Beautiful was over Hollywoodized I liked Mad Love but I suspect it is because I like it 10 years ago when i first saw it.
It really does depend on the mental illness you want to know about because it can range from anything from autism to bipolar disorder..
In which case, my favorites are:
This Movie
Rain Man
Requiem for a Dream (although that's about drug addiction come to think of it)
I think TV shows have a better time at explaning these illness at greater depth.. in which case i would recommen Six Feet Under.. the entire shopw, but particulary the season where Billy looses it..

I Am Sam
which is an amazing movie!

The Other Sister with Juliette Lewis and Giovanni Ribisi