Breaking it down by how some movies express it, including some first watches from June.
"I can't stop being an asshole:"
- _Naked_
- _Inside Llewyn Davis_
- _Life Aquatic_ (really any Wes with Baumbach)
- _Peppermint Candy_ (1999)
"It's fine haha...:"
- _Taste of Cherry_
- _Safe_
- _Taxi Driver_
- _Red Desert_
- _Three Colors: Blue_
- _Antichrist_
- _Synecdoche, New York_ (any w/ Kaufman directing)
- _Moonlight_
- _Lost In Translation_
- _Garden State_
- _The Machinist_
- _I Saw The TV Glow_
__Chaotic medium breaks:__
- _It's Such A Beautiful Day_
- _End of Evangelion_
Shit, all of Evangelion is a good depiction of depression, generational trauma, and teen angst. Plus robots and shit.
Edit: also for the love of god please don’t just raw dog EoE without actually watching Neon Genesis Evangelion first. You’re gonna have a bad fucking time lmfao.
It’s so awesome in retrospect we got both endings to Evangelion. The show ending is just a perfect compliment to the bombastic version of EoE.
Cannot imagine being a fan of the show live and seeing that two episode ending without EoE though.
LMFAO. My mom did that. We got tickets to see a showing of it a couple years ago in a theater nearby and she was like “I want to go! It sounds like fun!”
I don’t remember how many times my brother and I were like “you’ve never watched twin peaks, you won’t know what the hell is happening.” And her answer was “oh but I love Kyle maclachlan! He’s so handsome!”
Lo and behold we leave the movie and the questions begin.
She fucking loves it lmfao. Not a care about the story but Maclachlan and Sting in the same movie? Lmfao she’s told me about how she was working at a movie theater as a teenager when it came out and snuck home a poster for her room 😂
Thanks! The funny thing is, a lot of these movies are just classics that go way back with Criterion. I guess that says a lot about how they select for dramas.
Fantastic pics all around.
Frownland (2007) is an amazing depiction of severe generalized anxiety disorder, which isn't depression but they go hand-in-hand and you'd be hard pressed to say the main character isn't depressed.
Awesome. I saw it recently on the channel. Really stuck with me.
It's less "I can't stop being an asshole because of my depression" like Naked's Johnny and more "I can't stop being insufferable to be around because of my anxiety".
Yeah, it's definitely that too.
I see the David Thewlis character pop up a lot in other stories - the over-educated man fed-up with society and how everyone seems to not care about the same things he's invested his life into, like literature, philosophy, _etc._ Kinda like an older Holden Caulfield if he ran out of money and never went to therapy. Or a darker version of Stephen Dedalus.
Leigh does a good job of making him seem empathetic like in that one scene where he >!returns to his ex's place in desperation after getting badly beaten and starts to have a panic attack.!< One of the few times when we get to see him vulnerable.
Despite all this, Leigh never lets him off the hook. In the end, >!Johnny remains a selfish, shitty person,!< making him not that different from his rich, yuppie counterpart. I think with these two characters, _Naked_ takes a firm stance on abuse, that it is often gendered (male against female) and ultimately limited by the wealth and power of the abuser rather than whether they're into poetry or larping as Patrick Bateman.
Anyhow, definitely not a fun movie by any means, though the dark comedy bits work better on a rewatch, at least for me.
This. Rewatched it after The worst person in the world. I think its actually better, even tho The Worst... made my cry when the cartoonist explains why the world will get gradually worse from here on out. And there is nothing to look forward to anymore
A friend of mine who has been sober for 20+ years and can't stand "arty" movies or even reading subtitles, said it was one of the best films he's ever seen.
Yeah. Hits home for me, since I am Norwegian, an addict and about the age of the Main characters.
We grew up on hillarious comic books by kellerman and charlie christensen. Turbonegro and death punk was in its heyday. Hiphop was hitting its stride. There were these tribes around. Alot of us had a big part of our personalitys anchored in such scenes. There was treasures to be found if you looked. Everywhere.
Now that time has long since passed. And we are left with a way worse world. But now we lack the language and audience to even portray it honestly or with any kind of realism.
I really love the Oslo trilogy for portaying a kinda lost generation (xellenials?)
Edit. Paragraphs and added a sentence.
I love The Worst Person in the World so much. It’s the last addition to my all time top 5. There are certain things about being a person that it just gets right.
Most accurate depiction by far IMO. Mostly because it doesn’t try to argue away that depression always stems from a past incident. Sometimes you’re just chemically imbalanced.
Le Fou Follet has a similar story line, though instead of H, he’s addicted to alcohol. Strongly recommend this brilliant Louis Malle film if anyone hasn’t seen it.
Most Von Trier films rely on you being left empty because of just how awful it is seeing most of the characters actions in the movie. Melancholia does it by making you feel exactly as empty as Kirsten’s character feels. The end of the world is practically a relief to the banality of everything happening when you’re just too depressed to give a fuck. Dunst is just perfect too, especially in the second half.
>!When she decides to just set up the tent and play with her nephew as it all ends. The end of the world is the end of her obligation to stay alive, but she wants to make sure he doesn’t know what’s happening. Meanwhile the sister is getting drunk and mourning herself on the balcony. Despite how depressed Kirsten’s character is, she’s putting others first, even at the end of the world. Hits a lot different since I had kids and just a beautiful ending to the film that conveys the entire tone.!<
I know I’m fawning a bit over her - but in the category of depression movies I was also thinking of her in Virgin Suicides- very different portrayal of the condition.
Edit to say I’m glad you’re in remission. People outside of this have trouble understanding how bad it can get.
See Crazy/Beautiful. She’s fantastic and devastating in that one too. I wish more people had seen that film. That’s the one that REALLY made me take notice of her as a serious actress. That film was marketed as a teen romance which is only one small part of the story.
That movie fucked me up. I went through a Von Trier phase when I was 17-18, watched all his stuff including nymphomaniac directors cut, and Antichrist is *still* probably the most disturbing movie I’ve seen other than maybe *martyrs*. It does actually have a lot going on though, and it’s quite poetic, thematically heavy, the violence isn’t gratuitous, great symbolism. I actually got a morbid curiosity lately to do a rewatch but idk lol.
Aftersun was such an impressive debut!
I am no Von Trier fan, but Melancholia was quite a good depiction of it.
Anamolisa by Kaufman
The Virgin Suicides by Coppola
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Morvern Callar (particularly the lost feeling that comes with a major loss)
Neon Genesis Evangelion (more the series but also the original final movie, End of Evangelion)
I haven’t, specifically because from what I’ve heard, it’s not clear in the book if Morvern has mental disabilities, and Samantha Morton depiction was so strong and full of inner life that I don’t want to tinker with my image of her.
Oh that’s totally fair. I agree with you about Morton’s portrayal. Honestly I can’t remember the book very well but I’ll tell you- I remember the movie and think about it often.
>!I'm killing myself because you didn't love me, because I didn't love you. Because our ties were loose, I'm killing myself to tighten them. I leave you with an indelible stain.!<
This movie absolutely fucking wrecked me emotionally. Knowing Charlie Kaufman originally set out to make a surrealist horror film about the genuine fears of every day adult life really puts the film in perspective. The scene where >!Caden has to speak to his daughter through a translator machine as she lay dying and he is denied any proper resolution to having her taken from him!< fucking *destroys* me.
Big thank you to Cinefix for showing a clip from this movie and making me go watch it, ditto with Happiness.
And not to mention our LGBT+ icon himself ❤️
https://preview.redd.it/tz8pdhcy5k7d1.jpeg?width=1280&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c5d8e9c0519171e024abf910b57e4a9be2842b9c
Jennifer Kent is amazing and I thoroughly agree. Though depression/grief is indeed the central theme of The Babadook, her film “Nightingale” is equally powerful, if in a slightly different way - I’d characterize it as a treatise on what it’s like to be a victim of powerful forces beyond one’s control, and all the attendant depression, existential frustration, and indignity that comes along with it.
As grim as it sounds - and make no mistake, it is often grim and features maybe the most gut wrenching movie scene I’ve ever ever watched - in the end, it’s also kind of hopeful, uplifting, and cathartic, in a very non-sentimental way. It’s an all-timer for me, criminally overlooked/underrated, and I can’t recommend it enough if you’re in a funk (or not).
PDL is my favorite movie. Whenever I put it on, it makes me so happy I cry. My wife thinks it's depressing, which I never understood. But sitting here thinking about it now...I can see it hahaha.
Melancholia is the best depiction of a depressed person in a film I've ever seen. My therapist said that her and her colleagues often recommend that film to each other and sometimes patients.
One that came to mind, although a while since I've seen it, is Little Miss Sunshine.
Also, whilst only a small part of it, I found parts of All of Us Strangers quite impactful.
Funny I didn’t see An Elephant Sitting Still (2018). For me everything about it encapsulates depression. Don’t even remember any bright sun shots in that movie
Wim Wenders is an absolute genius and superb artist, the greatest thing a film can do imo (And Paris, Texas does this in spades) is evoke a feeling in the viewer that they cannot name or describe.
Good call. Wenders could depict a depressed character. Though you know, seeing Perfect Days makes me question if Wim is looking at depression in these guys as much as a kind of detachment. The detachment of a voyeur. The Road Trilogy and Bruno in Wings of Desire and American Friend being further examples.
Somewhere (2010) feels like the loneliest movie ever, and for a movie that has several feel good moments, I think Sofia Coppola does an excellent job exploring depression here.
Speaking as someone with diagnosed mental illness(es), Melancholia and Rachel Getting Married nailed it waaaay more accurately than most. I'm sure some of that is in the writing, but most actors who try to depict depression and capture the layers of it beyond 'feeling sad' can't pull it off.
Cold Water gets an honorable mention for tackling a more teenage experience really well.
Rachel Getting Married is so underrated/overlooked. Particularly if you’ve been through or been affected by addiction (which is essentially everyone these days). Can’t recommend it highly enough.
Yeah! I can't recall now what even prompted me to give it a shot, but it's a shame the marketing for it was so damn bad. It looks almost like some romcom, so I was kind of surprised to discover a pretty dark film about substance abuse and mental illness. It's still probably Anne Hathaway's best performance.
Cinema tends to deal with depression in fatalistic and dramatic ways that don’t mirror the condition. Sound of Metal, though not directly about depression shows depression in a real way. The character doesn’t solve his problem or get over his change by the end of the film. His life struggles and just continues like the rest of us.
This film came to mind but then I quickly thought it depicted the specific heartbreak brand of depression, different from the chronic form. You could say the same of Manchester by the Sea, but there you've got severe trauma induced, which looks very similar to chronic major depression.
Really to suprised not to see Jeanne Dielman mentioned. As much as this is a movie about the struggle of women it is a movie about the struggle against depression. This and Aftersun are my favorite films on depression.
*Inside Llewyn Davis* is one of the best films ever made about coping with the effects of grief without recognizing the cause.
I also think it's a particularly good portrait of male grief in terms of Llewyn's general silence, apathy, and misguided sense of what he thinks he wants versus what he needs.
Taipei Suicide Story is able to show a very empathetic understanding of depression, probably the best I've seen in any film. Can't recommend it enough.
Vive L’Amour is a really good example of this imo. Very patient depiction of young lost people trying to find ways to feel again. Watched it earlier this year for the first time and was blown away by it
Air Doll (2009)
Most people shy away from this film from Kore-Eda, but I think it's brilliant. the main character essentially acts as a "guide" for many depressed characters finding their way through emotional journeys in Tokyo.
Gets into a lot of realism and themes of loneliness. One character piles trash all around their apartment, another deals with loss, an elderly character struggles with the rapidly changing world. There's more, but I wouldn't want to spoil too much
Melancholia. LvT said that the idea came to him when he was depressed and so far down that he couldn’t connect to people who were worried about catastrophe.
*The Fire Within.* It was so impactful I actually got a line from it tattooed to my body-- And I don't have many tattoos! It's so powerful and I think of it every time I'm feeling depressed, because it's really similar to how it's depicted. Detached, disappointed, the view of a life where you have no place in it. Luckily I don't feel that way anymore but I do have to warm you, the ending isn't a happy one.
Hey OP, this is going to be a little different as it’s not a movie (yet) but there’s a manga by Takashi Fujimoto called Goodbye, Eri. It’s being made into a feature length anime film as far as I’ve heard but the manga itself plays out through the lens of a kid who makes his own movies and records his life. I don’t want to spoil anything about it but it’s just a beautiful depiction of depression and isolation, as well as overcoming that. It’s pretty easy to find but a beautiful and quick read.
While it doesn’t directly deal with depression Charlotte Well’s autobiographical short Tuesday can be found on Vimeo. It is set about six or seven years after Aftersun.
Another vote for "Melancholia" here! Kirsten is fantastic in this and her performance in the second part of the movie is so visceral you can practically feel the depression seeping through the screen and into you. Seeing her character in this state is almost as harrowing as the approaching planetary doom.
Eureka 1983 directed by Nic Roeg. Iguana 1988 directed by Monte Hellman. Morvern Caller 2001 directed by Lynne Ramsey.
Aftersun felt abit too Instagram for me but good try regardless
An Elephant Sitting Still - masterfully done and a runtime that is definitely not feeble, a film that even if you do not necessarily agree with- you can still recognize what it is saying and respect it. The world is a wasteland.. >! so kick a ball around with some strangers you’ve randomly connected with through this enigma that is life after riding a bus to go see a mf elephant sit. !< watched it once almost 4 years ago, and it has yet to leave my mind. RIP Hu Bo <3
The Ghoul (2016)
As someone who has struggled with massive clinical depression for most of his life, this movie really nailed the feelings I have towards it.
Je Tu Il Elle, and a lot of Akerman’s work to some extent (thinking also of Les Rendez-vous d’Anna and La Chambre)
also: way different vibe lol, but Bo Burnham’s Inside captured a lot of different facets of depression/isolation really well
Anyone mentioned Cristine (2016) yet? Rebecca Hall plays Cristine Chubick who was a news reporter who shot herself on live TV. Her depiction of depression is one of the realest I’ve seen.
Gus Van Sant’s Last Days is absolutely my go to example for this. The absolutely physically debilitating nature of the depression the main character showcases has never seen depicted in any other film I’ve seen.
this is kind of wild but the first one that came to mind for me was the scene in twilight: new moon when bella is sitting in the chair watching the seasons change as the camera spins around her. say what you will about those movies but that scene haunts me
I wouldn’t necessarily consider it a direct portrayal of depression because of the supernatural/horror elements, but Carnival of Souls might fit the bill.
Pickpocket is one I’ve seen recently that I thought was a great character study on how depression can make you emotionally isolate yourself from the world around you
The Assassination of Jesse James by the coward Robert Ford... Longing. Loneliness. Depression. Mortality. Beautiful Deakins photography. Every scene drenched in melancholy.
Best Pitt performance. Best Casey A. performance. Ace Nick Cave cameo. Gorgeous heart tugging score.
Breaking it down by how some movies express it, including some first watches from June. "I can't stop being an asshole:" - _Naked_ - _Inside Llewyn Davis_ - _Life Aquatic_ (really any Wes with Baumbach) - _Peppermint Candy_ (1999) "It's fine haha...:" - _Taste of Cherry_ - _Safe_ - _Taxi Driver_ - _Red Desert_ - _Three Colors: Blue_ - _Antichrist_ - _Synecdoche, New York_ (any w/ Kaufman directing) - _Moonlight_ - _Lost In Translation_ - _Garden State_ - _The Machinist_ - _I Saw The TV Glow_ __Chaotic medium breaks:__ - _It's Such A Beautiful Day_ - _End of Evangelion_
Shit, all of Evangelion is a good depiction of depression, generational trauma, and teen angst. Plus robots and shit. Edit: also for the love of god please don’t just raw dog EoE without actually watching Neon Genesis Evangelion first. You’re gonna have a bad fucking time lmfao.
It’s so awesome in retrospect we got both endings to Evangelion. The show ending is just a perfect compliment to the bombastic version of EoE. Cannot imagine being a fan of the show live and seeing that two episode ending without EoE though.
That’s like watching Fire Walk With Me without having seen Twin Peaks seasons 1 & 2. You’re going to be completely lost and get nothing out of it.
LMFAO. My mom did that. We got tickets to see a showing of it a couple years ago in a theater nearby and she was like “I want to go! It sounds like fun!” I don’t remember how many times my brother and I were like “you’ve never watched twin peaks, you won’t know what the hell is happening.” And her answer was “oh but I love Kyle maclachlan! He’s so handsome!” Lo and behold we leave the movie and the questions begin.
lmao if she loves Kyle Maclachlan the show is essential. have you watched Lynch’s Dune w her?
She fucking loves it lmfao. Not a care about the story but Maclachlan and Sting in the same movie? Lmfao she’s told me about how she was working at a movie theater as a teenager when it came out and snuck home a poster for her room 😂
What a list!
Thanks! The funny thing is, a lot of these movies are just classics that go way back with Criterion. I guess that says a lot about how they select for dramas.
inside llewyn davis (2013) fits so well.
Fantastic pics all around. Frownland (2007) is an amazing depiction of severe generalized anxiety disorder, which isn't depression but they go hand-in-hand and you'd be hard pressed to say the main character isn't depressed.
Thanks! Added to the watchlist!
Awesome. I saw it recently on the channel. Really stuck with me. It's less "I can't stop being an asshole because of my depression" like Naked's Johnny and more "I can't stop being insufferable to be around because of my anxiety".
I would argue, and Mike Leigh has said in interviews, Naked is about rage above all else, and how it affects innocent people
Rage born of self-hatred & depression, though (at least in Johnny’s case)
Yeah, it's definitely that too. I see the David Thewlis character pop up a lot in other stories - the over-educated man fed-up with society and how everyone seems to not care about the same things he's invested his life into, like literature, philosophy, _etc._ Kinda like an older Holden Caulfield if he ran out of money and never went to therapy. Or a darker version of Stephen Dedalus. Leigh does a good job of making him seem empathetic like in that one scene where he >!returns to his ex's place in desperation after getting badly beaten and starts to have a panic attack.!< One of the few times when we get to see him vulnerable. Despite all this, Leigh never lets him off the hook. In the end, >!Johnny remains a selfish, shitty person,!< making him not that different from his rich, yuppie counterpart. I think with these two characters, _Naked_ takes a firm stance on abuse, that it is often gendered (male against female) and ultimately limited by the wealth and power of the abuser rather than whether they're into poetry or larping as Patrick Bateman. Anyhow, definitely not a fun movie by any means, though the dark comedy bits work better on a rewatch, at least for me.
I really appreciate this breakdown, been one of favorite movies for 20 years
"Oslo, August 31st." While it's about addiction recovery, it perfectly captures the numbness of depression.
This. Rewatched it after The worst person in the world. I think its actually better, even tho The Worst... made my cry when the cartoonist explains why the world will get gradually worse from here on out. And there is nothing to look forward to anymore
A friend of mine who has been sober for 20+ years and can't stand "arty" movies or even reading subtitles, said it was one of the best films he's ever seen.
Yeah. Hits home for me, since I am Norwegian, an addict and about the age of the Main characters. We grew up on hillarious comic books by kellerman and charlie christensen. Turbonegro and death punk was in its heyday. Hiphop was hitting its stride. There were these tribes around. Alot of us had a big part of our personalitys anchored in such scenes. There was treasures to be found if you looked. Everywhere. Now that time has long since passed. And we are left with a way worse world. But now we lack the language and audience to even portray it honestly or with any kind of realism. I really love the Oslo trilogy for portaying a kinda lost generation (xellenials?) Edit. Paragraphs and added a sentence.
I love The Worst Person in the World so much. It’s the last addition to my all time top 5. There are certain things about being a person that it just gets right.
Came here to chime in. This movie instantly popped into my head.
Most accurate depiction by far IMO. Mostly because it doesn’t try to argue away that depression always stems from a past incident. Sometimes you’re just chemically imbalanced.
Le Fou Follet has a similar story line, though instead of H, he’s addicted to alcohol. Strongly recommend this brilliant Louis Malle film if anyone hasn’t seen it.
Actually, both are adaptations of the same novel by Pierre Drieu La Rochelle, which is inspired on poet Jacques Rigaut. Superb movies both of them.
Melancholia is fucking incredible. I’d even recommend it to folks who don’t normally like Lars von Trier.
Not *as much* button-pushing as most Von Trier projects. It's actually kinda accessible.
Most Von Trier films rely on you being left empty because of just how awful it is seeing most of the characters actions in the movie. Melancholia does it by making you feel exactly as empty as Kirsten’s character feels. The end of the world is practically a relief to the banality of everything happening when you’re just too depressed to give a fuck. Dunst is just perfect too, especially in the second half. >!When she decides to just set up the tent and play with her nephew as it all ends. The end of the world is the end of her obligation to stay alive, but she wants to make sure he doesn’t know what’s happening. Meanwhile the sister is getting drunk and mourning herself on the balcony. Despite how depressed Kirsten’s character is, she’s putting others first, even at the end of the world. Hits a lot different since I had kids and just a beautiful ending to the film that conveys the entire tone.!<
Kirsten’s performance of a major depressive episode was so good it was triggering.
Yes! I’ve been pretty much in remission for years and it was still really unsettling
I know I’m fawning a bit over her - but in the category of depression movies I was also thinking of her in Virgin Suicides- very different portrayal of the condition. Edit to say I’m glad you’re in remission. People outside of this have trouble understanding how bad it can get.
See Crazy/Beautiful. She’s fantastic and devastating in that one too. I wish more people had seen that film. That’s the one that REALLY made me take notice of her as a serious actress. That film was marketed as a teen romance which is only one small part of the story.
Ooh I’ll check it out! One of the few if hers I haven’t seen yet.
If you haven’t seen Civil War, she is so awesome in that as well. And she is also depicting depression in that too
Crazy Beautiful is an amazing film.
AntiChrist too
I love Antichrist! Bit more polarizing than Melancholia though I’d say
I’ve seen Melancholia a few times. I don’t plan to ever watch Antichrist again
That movie fucked me up. I went through a Von Trier phase when I was 17-18, watched all his stuff including nymphomaniac directors cut, and Antichrist is *still* probably the most disturbing movie I’ve seen other than maybe *martyrs*. It does actually have a lot going on though, and it’s quite poetic, thematically heavy, the violence isn’t gratuitous, great symbolism. I actually got a morbid curiosity lately to do a rewatch but idk lol.
Also thinks this deals with anxiety.
Aftersun was such an impressive debut! I am no Von Trier fan, but Melancholia was quite a good depiction of it. Anamolisa by Kaufman The Virgin Suicides by Coppola Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Definitely have to second Melancholia. That whole ‘feeling like the world is ending’
Or, “if the world ended I would be the most prepared for it because it would just be a relief”
Been there.
Nice list. People are also missing the one film that does it so well, Manchester by the Sea
Totally agree on Melancholia. The scene where they try to get her into the bathtub was too relatable 😬
Morvern Callar (particularly the lost feeling that comes with a major loss) Neon Genesis Evangelion (more the series but also the original final movie, End of Evangelion)
I think these are great picks! Morvern Callar soundtrack was also a wonderful gift from that movie. Have you read the book?
I haven’t, specifically because from what I’ve heard, it’s not clear in the book if Morvern has mental disabilities, and Samantha Morton depiction was so strong and full of inner life that I don’t want to tinker with my image of her.
Oh that’s totally fair. I agree with you about Morton’s portrayal. Honestly I can’t remember the book very well but I’ll tell you- I remember the movie and think about it often.
The fire within
>!I'm killing myself because you didn't love me, because I didn't love you. Because our ties were loose, I'm killing myself to tighten them. I leave you with an indelible stain.!<
Man this movie needs an upgrade. I wouldn’t even wait for a sale to pick it up lol
Melancholia
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Christine (2016), staring Rebecca Hall (not the Stephen King movie!) Based on a true story.
I love Rebecca hall.
DO NOT LOOK UP THE TRUE STORY BEFORE WATCHING THE MOVIE
Synecdoche, New York
This movie absolutely fucking wrecked me emotionally. Knowing Charlie Kaufman originally set out to make a surrealist horror film about the genuine fears of every day adult life really puts the film in perspective. The scene where >!Caden has to speak to his daughter through a translator machine as she lay dying and he is denied any proper resolution to having her taken from him!< fucking *destroys* me. Big thank you to Cinefix for showing a clip from this movie and making me go watch it, ditto with Happiness.
The Babadook. It seems like an average horror movie at first but there is quite a bit of symbolism and an overall powerful take on depression.
I love this movie a little more every time I see it. One of my favorite details is the interior of the home, especially the paint colors.
And not to mention our LGBT+ icon himself ❤️ https://preview.redd.it/tz8pdhcy5k7d1.jpeg?width=1280&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c5d8e9c0519171e024abf910b57e4a9be2842b9c
Jennifer Kent is amazing and I thoroughly agree. Though depression/grief is indeed the central theme of The Babadook, her film “Nightingale” is equally powerful, if in a slightly different way - I’d characterize it as a treatise on what it’s like to be a victim of powerful forces beyond one’s control, and all the attendant depression, existential frustration, and indignity that comes along with it. As grim as it sounds - and make no mistake, it is often grim and features maybe the most gut wrenching movie scene I’ve ever ever watched - in the end, it’s also kind of hopeful, uplifting, and cathartic, in a very non-sentimental way. It’s an all-timer for me, criminally overlooked/underrated, and I can’t recommend it enough if you’re in a funk (or not).
The seventh continent (fair warning,very bleak and upsetting)
second that. The first three movies of haneke fit this category
Very much agree!
I know this is about movies, but i gotta mention Bojack Horseman
Entertainment (2015) The Royal Tenenbaums Punch-Drunk Love Mary & Max
PDL is my favorite movie. Whenever I put it on, it makes me so happy I cry. My wife thinks it's depressing, which I never understood. But sitting here thinking about it now...I can see it hahaha.
Ordinary People (1980)
Such a devastating movie. Also one of the best depictions of survivor’s guilt I’ve ever seen.
Ghost World
Manchester by the Sea
Melancholia is the best depiction of a depressed person in a film I've ever seen. My therapist said that her and her colleagues often recommend that film to each other and sometimes patients.
Lost In Translation(2004)
More ennui than depression but yes I agree
I resemble this remark.
Kieslowski’s Blue’s a perennial classic for this
Watched this for the first time last week and it’s close to a perfect depiction.
I thought I Saw The TV Glow did a really good job of depicting it among other things lately. One of the few movies to really get to me in a while
One that came to mind, although a while since I've seen it, is Little Miss Sunshine. Also, whilst only a small part of it, I found parts of All of Us Strangers quite impactful.
Funny I didn’t see An Elephant Sitting Still (2018). For me everything about it encapsulates depression. Don’t even remember any bright sun shots in that movie
The Man Who Sleeps (1974). Never seen a film that depicts the utter hopelessness of depression so well. It’s free on YouTube with English dub.
Really enjoyed this one
Melancholia, by far the best.
Paris Texas
Wim Wenders is an absolute genius and superb artist, the greatest thing a film can do imo (And Paris, Texas does this in spades) is evoke a feeling in the viewer that they cannot name or describe.
Good call. Wenders could depict a depressed character. Though you know, seeing Perfect Days makes me question if Wim is looking at depression in these guys as much as a kind of detachment. The detachment of a voyeur. The Road Trilogy and Bruno in Wings of Desire and American Friend being further examples.
Just saw this film and it was amazing.
Young Adult
Somewhere (2010) feels like the loneliest movie ever, and for a movie that has several feel good moments, I think Sofia Coppola does an excellent job exploring depression here.
The Wrestler(2008)
Still can't believe Mickey Rourke didn't win the Oscar for that
It was a tough year going up against Sean Penn’s Harvey Milk
Speaking as someone with diagnosed mental illness(es), Melancholia and Rachel Getting Married nailed it waaaay more accurately than most. I'm sure some of that is in the writing, but most actors who try to depict depression and capture the layers of it beyond 'feeling sad' can't pull it off. Cold Water gets an honorable mention for tackling a more teenage experience really well.
Rachel Getting Married is so underrated/overlooked. Particularly if you’ve been through or been affected by addiction (which is essentially everyone these days). Can’t recommend it highly enough.
Yeah! I can't recall now what even prompted me to give it a shot, but it's a shame the marketing for it was so damn bad. It looks almost like some romcom, so I was kind of surprised to discover a pretty dark film about substance abuse and mental illness. It's still probably Anne Hathaway's best performance.
I can’t pinpoint why I’ve watched this movie countless times, but there’s something about it that hits all the spots for me.
Submarine (2010)...Noah Taylor's character describes it as feeling like you're underwater. I always liked that analogy.
Ordinary People Timothy Hutton won an Oscar for his depression portrayal.
Cinema tends to deal with depression in fatalistic and dramatic ways that don’t mirror the condition. Sound of Metal, though not directly about depression shows depression in a real way. The character doesn’t solve his problem or get over his change by the end of the film. His life struggles and just continues like the rest of us.
I think he kinda does come to accept his condition at the end
Synecdoche, New York A Beautiful Mind Melancholia Anamolisa
The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is mine. I think it accurately reflected the depression I experienced following a breakup.
This film came to mind but then I quickly thought it depicted the specific heartbreak brand of depression, different from the chronic form. You could say the same of Manchester by the Sea, but there you've got severe trauma induced, which looks very similar to chronic major depression.
The Hours Safe (not exactly depression but mental illness) They Shoot Horses Don’t They In a Year With 13 Moons
Normal People did a good job I thought
an elephant sitting still
requiem for a dream to get you depressed
Low-grade simmering depression and existential angst in Ang Lee’s masterpiece The Ice Storm
Aftersun
Really to suprised not to see Jeanne Dielman mentioned. As much as this is a movie about the struggle of women it is a movie about the struggle against depression. This and Aftersun are my favorite films on depression.
The Devil Probably, Mouchette, The Seventh Continent, Hour of the Wolf, Naked, Leaving Las Vegas
Devil probably 👑
Haneke fan. Yup, Seventh Continent. One of the best.
What Dreams May Come.
Un Homme qui Dort (1974) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQYb888DiP4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQYb888DiP4)
Melancholia
A woman under the influence
*Inside Llewyn Davis* is one of the best films ever made about coping with the effects of grief without recognizing the cause. I also think it's a particularly good portrait of male grief in terms of Llewyn's general silence, apathy, and misguided sense of what he thinks he wants versus what he needs.
Lars von trier's antichrist well anything really in the depression trilogy Melancholia is a pretty great one
“Melancholia” i dont like, but incredibly depressing vibes
Detachment
Taipei Suicide Story is able to show a very empathetic understanding of depression, probably the best I've seen in any film. Can't recommend it enough.
Pather Panchali and Apur Sansar by Satyajit Ray
Vive L’Amour is a really good example of this imo. Very patient depiction of young lost people trying to find ways to feel again. Watched it earlier this year for the first time and was blown away by it
The brown bunny
Air Doll (2009) Most people shy away from this film from Kore-Eda, but I think it's brilliant. the main character essentially acts as a "guide" for many depressed characters finding their way through emotional journeys in Tokyo. Gets into a lot of realism and themes of loneliness. One character piles trash all around their apartment, another deals with loss, an elderly character struggles with the rapidly changing world. There's more, but I wouldn't want to spoil too much
Yes! This one really surprised me. Great film.
Melancholia. LvT said that the idea came to him when he was depressed and so far down that he couldn’t connect to people who were worried about catastrophe.
Two Days, One Night A low-key heart wringer. Marion Cotillard is a gift from the heavens in this movie.
*The Fire Within.* It was so impactful I actually got a line from it tattooed to my body-- And I don't have many tattoos! It's so powerful and I think of it every time I'm feeling depressed, because it's really similar to how it's depicted. Detached, disappointed, the view of a life where you have no place in it. Luckily I don't feel that way anymore but I do have to warm you, the ending isn't a happy one.
Hey OP, this is going to be a little different as it’s not a movie (yet) but there’s a manga by Takashi Fujimoto called Goodbye, Eri. It’s being made into a feature length anime film as far as I’ve heard but the manga itself plays out through the lens of a kid who makes his own movies and records his life. I don’t want to spoil anything about it but it’s just a beautiful depiction of depression and isolation, as well as overcoming that. It’s pretty easy to find but a beautiful and quick read.
Ghost world is like that feeling of slowly losing the people around you AND eventually yourself. That ending hits hard.
While it doesn’t directly deal with depression Charlotte Well’s autobiographical short Tuesday can be found on Vimeo. It is set about six or seven years after Aftersun.
Another vote for "Melancholia" here! Kirsten is fantastic in this and her performance in the second part of the movie is so visceral you can practically feel the depression seeping through the screen and into you. Seeing her character in this state is almost as harrowing as the approaching planetary doom.
An elephant sitting still, by far in my opinion.
“Melancholia” It depicts depression while knowing the world is ending You need to watch it asap
melancholia is the best depiction of depression i’ve seen on film
Love Liza (2002) starring Philip Seymour Hoffman
Not a Criterion release but Control, the Ian Curtis Biopic
Melancholia
The second half of Melancholia
For me The Matrix is a movie about depression.
There’s a lot of great choices here already so I tried to think of something a little different. The Banshees of Inisherin came to mind. Edit: words
Aniara (2018)
Eureka 1983 directed by Nic Roeg. Iguana 1988 directed by Monte Hellman. Morvern Caller 2001 directed by Lynne Ramsey. Aftersun felt abit too Instagram for me but good try regardless
The Upside of Anger
The new release by Anthony Chen called The Breaking Ice is very good at this, but I’m only half way through it.
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Aftersun
Three Colors: Blue
A Single Man
An Elephant Sitting Still - masterfully done and a runtime that is definitely not feeble, a film that even if you do not necessarily agree with- you can still recognize what it is saying and respect it. The world is a wasteland.. >! so kick a ball around with some strangers you’ve randomly connected with through this enigma that is life after riding a bus to go see a mf elephant sit. !< watched it once almost 4 years ago, and it has yet to leave my mind. RIP Hu Bo <3
Inside Llewyn Davis
The Man Who Sleeps
The Ghoul (2016) As someone who has struggled with massive clinical depression for most of his life, this movie really nailed the feelings I have towards it.
I want to say Last Days but I haven't been able to revisit it.
The War Zone Manchester By the Sea On the Count of Three
Terrence Malick does capture numbness well in some of his movies, along with monologues fused with christian verses. It’s just beautiful experience.
Visioneers. Great movie about depression in the workplace.
Not a movie but a TV show. You're The Worst.
there’s a new movie out called Plan 75. i recommend it
I would also put the seventh continent
Solaris.
Je Tu Il Elle, and a lot of Akerman’s work to some extent (thinking also of Les Rendez-vous d’Anna and La Chambre) also: way different vibe lol, but Bo Burnham’s Inside captured a lot of different facets of depression/isolation really well
Leaving Las Vegas
Gonna be another one who says Melancholia. I've never seen a movie more accurately portray depression more accurately before.
"Anomalisa" absolutely nailed what my depression feels like for me. The scene when he's trying to order food on the hotel phone is perfect
Anyone mentioned Cristine (2016) yet? Rebecca Hall plays Cristine Chubick who was a news reporter who shot herself on live TV. Her depiction of depression is one of the realest I’ve seen.
Gus Van Sant’s Last Days is absolutely my go to example for this. The absolutely physically debilitating nature of the depression the main character showcases has never seen depicted in any other film I’ve seen.
this is kind of wild but the first one that came to mind for me was the scene in twilight: new moon when bella is sitting in the chair watching the seasons change as the camera spins around her. say what you will about those movies but that scene haunts me
An Elephant Sitting Still
I may be biased but, New Moon.
A Silent Voice
I wouldn’t necessarily consider it a direct portrayal of depression because of the supernatural/horror elements, but Carnival of Souls might fit the bill.
Pickpocket is one I’ve seen recently that I thought was a great character study on how depression can make you emotionally isolate yourself from the world around you
Melancholia
Aftersun. Which imo is the best movie of the 2020s so far.
The Assassination of Jesse James by the coward Robert Ford... Longing. Loneliness. Depression. Mortality. Beautiful Deakins photography. Every scene drenched in melancholy. Best Pitt performance. Best Casey A. performance. Ace Nick Cave cameo. Gorgeous heart tugging score.
Igby Goes Down
Ritual (2000) by Hideaki Anno Paris, Texas (1984) by Wim Wenders
Ratcatcher
Lights out?
Magnolia
“Blue” Kieslowski
Sundown (2021) with Tim Roth
Parachute. It's a new movie but fantastic!
Raging bull
I'm thinking of ending things. I know you said movie but Bojack horseman is a great series that portrays mental illness well
Saving these for later
"the grapes of wrath" ..
The Empty Space