March 1998
The 'Shrink's List of Top 10 Films' and Other Insights on the
Academy Awards
The "Shrink's List of Top 10 Films of 1997:
1. "The Sweet Hereafter": The overlap between the psychological need for
avoiding pain, the desire for revenge and profit, and the moral imperative to
do right are poignantly portrayed through an array of different characters'
responses to the film's tragic school bus accident.
2. "The Ice Storm": The modern-day version of a biblical moral story,
this film shows that the children of adulterers feel lost and they imitate the
perverse experimentation of their parents in a desperate attempt to connect
with humanity.
3. "Good Will Hunting": Finally, a film which presents the therapist as a
real person. (See story below.)
4. "As Good As It Gets": This film taps into our repressed wish to say
the outrageous and speak the unspeakable. But the movie is clear about the
reason we are willing to be considerate of others. If we are not, we will be
rejected.
5. "Wings of the Dove": The story conveys the fragility of love -- that
once it is perverted, it cannot be purified.
6. "Washington Square": This movie shows how the unconscious hatred of a
father toward his daughter allows him to control and destroy her life out of
conscious concern.
7. "Bent": A profound story of the triumph of love and free will in a
German concentration camp. The film also conveys the true source of
homophobia -- denial of the danger from within.
8. "Deconstructing Harry": What is really interesting about this film is
that we know so much about Woody Allen's life that what we see on the screen
becomes a comic parallel to the real thing. We also wonder if he is using
neurosis as an excuse for bad behavior off the screen.
9. "Ma Vie en Rose": The movie conveys how threatened people become by
sexual diversity.
10. "The Boxer": Set in Northern Ireland, this is a unique story of
integrity, redemption and going home again.
San Francisco Psychoanalytic Institute candidate Judith Schiller, Ph.D.,
compiled the Top 10 listing and is available for media interviews.
"Good Will Hunting" = Good Psychotherapy
As the curtain falls on "Good Will Hunting," an Oscar nominee for Best
Picture, we cheer Will Hunting's decision to follow his heart in pursuit of
Skylar and Stanford. And we nod in agreement when someone suggests that
Hunting (played by Matt Damon) could not have made that choice without the
help of his psychotherapist, Sean McGuire (played by Robin Williams).
"In a therapy that truly works, a genuine connection is made between both
participants on a level playing field," says Mark I. Levy, M.D., Chairman of
the San Francisco Foundation for Psychoanalysis. "Stereotypes of
psychotherapy place the analyst on a pedestal, handing out advice to an
emotionally weakened patient. With true psychoanalysis, a real engagement
takes place between the two, and by the therapist and the patient each
identifying their own weaknesses, growth occurs for both."
Another element of the relationship between Hunting and McGuire which
rings true is Hunting's contempt for the very therapy which is his saving
grace.
"The last thing acting-out adolescents want to do is go to therapy,"
explains Levy. "Therapists who are good at working with teens are like
surfers. The therapist rides the waves of resistance and emotional
provocation that kids send at them. And as the therapist survives each wave,
the teen gradually develops trust in him/her."
Levy is quick to caution that not every psychotherapy relationship will
have the dramatic results portrayed in "Good Will Hunting" (this is Hollywood,
after all). "However, a patient should trust his/her instincts and find a
therapist whose emotional authenticity comes through loud and clear, even in
the first few visits," says Levy.
To interview Dr. Levy, please call Mary Tressel,
San Francisco Psychoanalytic Institute Media Consultant, at 800-260-2663.