Arpan K. Banerjee
Solihull, England

In this fascinating book, author Eelco Wijdicks traces the history of psychiatry and neuropsychiatry in cinema. From the beginnings of commercial film in Paris in 1895, directors and screenwriters have told medical stories, both as entertainment and as a medium for understanding various aspects of the human condition. Frames of Minds reviews the history of films with psychiatric themes and how mental health has been portrayed over the last hundred years. Such themes have included portrayals of asylums, psychoanalysis, depression, suicide, psychosis, addiction, and dreams.

This scholarly historical analysis begins with descriptions of film characters with possible psychiatric problems that were derived from early works of literature and art. Portrayals of psychiatric conditions became progressively more vivid in cinematic works such as The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, a silent movie from 1920 that was one of the first to depict a psychiatrist. An early film depicting alcoholism was Billy Wilder’s 1945 The Lost Weekend. Heroin addiction was portrayed in 1955 by Frank Sinatra in The Man with the Golden Arm and more recently in the 1996 Danny Boyle film Trainspotting. Bipolar disorder was brilliantly portrayed in the film The Madness of King George in 1994. Schizophrenia was shown in the 2001 film A Beautiful Mind. Dreams were featured in Bunuel’s 1929 film A Chien Andalou, Hitchcock’s 1945 Spellbound, Bergman’s 1957 Wild Strawberries, and Alan Resnais’s 1961 Last Year at Marienbad.

Psychoanalysis has been a recurring theme in many of Woody Allen’s films, notably the 1977 film Annie Hall. Psychiatric interventions in film have ranged from LSD use in Roger Corman’s 1967 The Trip to lobotomy in the 1959 film Suddenly Last Summer. Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) was included in the 1975 Milos Forman film One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Violent psychopathy has been portrayed in Martin Scorsese’s 1990 film Goodfellas; posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) was represented by Robert DeNiro’s chilling portrayal in Taxi Driver from 1976.

The chapters in the book explore how the brain imagines and dreams, as well as the effects of drugs, trauma, and violence. These descriptions then give the author scope for his analysis of the way filmmakers deal with these topics. The list of films, conditions, and references are exhaustive. Particularly useful are the lists of the films and directors at the end of the book and the comprehensive index.

Frames of Minds is a fascinating read. It will be useful and of interest to film scholars, historians, healthcare workers, and anyone interested in the depiction of the human condition in cinema.

Frames of Minds: A History of Neuropsychiatry on Screen
Eelco F.M. Wijdicks
Oxford University Press, 2024
ISBN 9780197615898