lammers1980
Member
This past weekend I had the opportunity to watch the above mentioned movie with my wife. I know that mental health in the movies seems to be a hot topic of discussion these days so I thought a discussion on this film would be interesting. I have a special interest in this particular film because it deals with OCD, a condition which has plagued me almost as long as I can remember.
Here are my thoughts on the film. I thought Leonardo Di Caprio actually did a very convincing job portraying a person with OCD. I also thought that the movie was sympathetic to the condition, and did not really depict him as a madman or anything. What I found convincing in his acting were the subtle nuances, such as his tendency to appear "lost in thought" while in conversation, thus tuning out of his surroundings while engrossed in an obsession. I find this often happens to me when I am getting very anxious. Also, there was a scene where he was about to eat dinner and a drunken actor (I forget his name) grabs a piece of food off his plate. At this point, he looks at his dinner, winces, then decides he cannot eat it any more. I admit, there have been times where I threw out perfectly good food if I felt it was "contaminated". The scene where he locks himself in his private theater for days on end seems a bit over the top, but I have heard of cases of people doing this. Even though I have never shut myself in, the rituals he requires in order to get through his crisis seem plausible.
The one point of contention I have with the film is the implication that it was somehow his mother that planted the seeds of OCD with her discussions with him as a child. This seems to run contrary to modern research into OCD, and may be a result of Hollywood's continued belief in Freudian psychoanalysis.
All in all I think this is a pretty good movie, although don't expect any particularly deep insights or anything.
Here are my thoughts on the film. I thought Leonardo Di Caprio actually did a very convincing job portraying a person with OCD. I also thought that the movie was sympathetic to the condition, and did not really depict him as a madman or anything. What I found convincing in his acting were the subtle nuances, such as his tendency to appear "lost in thought" while in conversation, thus tuning out of his surroundings while engrossed in an obsession. I find this often happens to me when I am getting very anxious. Also, there was a scene where he was about to eat dinner and a drunken actor (I forget his name) grabs a piece of food off his plate. At this point, he looks at his dinner, winces, then decides he cannot eat it any more. I admit, there have been times where I threw out perfectly good food if I felt it was "contaminated". The scene where he locks himself in his private theater for days on end seems a bit over the top, but I have heard of cases of people doing this. Even though I have never shut myself in, the rituals he requires in order to get through his crisis seem plausible.
The one point of contention I have with the film is the implication that it was somehow his mother that planted the seeds of OCD with her discussions with him as a child. This seems to run contrary to modern research into OCD, and may be a result of Hollywood's continued belief in Freudian psychoanalysis.
All in all I think this is a pretty good movie, although don't expect any particularly deep insights or anything.