Movie List - Personality Disorders
At Close Range
Genre: Drama Year: 1986 Rating: R
Actors: Sean Penn, Christopher Walken, Mary Stuart Masterson
Topics: Personality Disorder
Movie about a son's (Sean Penn) relationship (or lack thereof) with his clearly psychopathic father
(Christopher Walken). Based on a true story. [Suggested by Laura Cronin, Marywood University,
PA]
Bad Timing
Genre: Drama Year: 1980 Rating: R
Actors: Art Garfunkel, Theresa Russell, Harvey Keitel
Topics: Personality Disorder, Suicide, Sexual Obsession
This modern film-noir type movie has been hated by some - e.g., the original distribution company
removed its logo and called it "a sick movie made by sick people for sick people." Well, I didn't
think it was THAT bad - I've certainly seen worse, but I'm not inclined to watch it again. The film
is told through a series of flashbacks interspersed with current time, making it a bit hard to follow.
By the end, though, you have a sense of where the psychopathologies lie. In addition to the
personality disorder issues, what about the psychiatrist's blatant disregard for confidentiality and
the inappropriate use of testing? If he is a "research psychoanalyst" in Vienna, does that change
the ethics requirement, even if he most likely was trained in the United States?
Being There
Genre: Comedy Year: 1979 Rating: PG
Actors: Peter Sellers, Shirley MacLaine, Melvyn Douglas
Topics: Personality Disorder
Academy Award winner for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor. Very funny and interesting film
about a gardener (Peter Sellers) whose only exposure to the "real world" outside the wall around
the grounds he keeps comes from television. What does it say about our society? Any obvious
diagnosis of the gardener (or us?!)?

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