..I thought it was too low key. I mean, come on, Rosen is trying to make a believable mental illness movie on the heels of David and Lisa, The Snake Pit, the 3 Faces of Eve, all superior to his. It's so low key, it almost feels like a dream. Oh, and during the scene where Peter Fonda is saving himself from drowning, there's a quick clip of him NOT wearing his glasses. A definite goof.
Off the record, on the QT, and very hush hush
If you are looking for a “mental illness movie” which is not low-key or dreamlike, then I don’t doubt that somewhere out there is what you want. Lilith however is rather more than that.
shareI think one of the points you are missing is the fact that this was a place for very rich clients. These were not your ordinary mentally ill, these were people who were educated and well off, or had families that were well off. I am assuming a place like this only took in certain types of mentally ill people, as this was not a state run facility. Therefore they could cater to the less violent, more creative mentally ill types.
If you are looking for the other side of the coin you should see Shock Corridor.
Actually, it's over-the-top movies like Shock Corridor that give the false impressions of mental illness. Mental illness is often more subtle and less dramatic than it is portrayed in movies like Sybil or One Flew Over the Cukoo's Nest, but that doesn't make for blockbusters, I guess. For example, Peter Fonda's Stephen is a spot-on portrayal of someone with a mental illness (perhaps obsessive-compulsive disorder, because he is definitely obsessed with Lilith). I've been around enough people with mental illness to know that there are varying degrees of sickness that will get you hospitalized, and they don't all manifest in screaming hallucinations or violence. That's why I really liked this movie. Plus, you could also consider the fact that the most severely ill would be on a separate ward that was not given privileges like going for walks in the woods.
What I found most unrealistic about this film was the degree of freedom the residents had on their outings, along with the frequency and duration of their outings. I guess they had to get Warren Beatty and Jean Seberg alone somehow.
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A life lived in fear is a life half-lived... Strictly Ballroom share
As someone who has many a friend who have had to use mental health services, including a few people who have legit been locked up, both by choice and against their will, there is a wide range of types of mental hospitals and how they treat their patients, and what kind of patients inhabit these hospitals. I have had friends who were in places like in Lilith, while others were in places just like Shock Corridor. In NYC, we have a hospital called Bellevue, which has a great emergency room, but is also a hospital that the cops bring the mentally ill people who have been arrested. If you have ever been there at 2AM you would know that Shock Corridor is not that far off.
Also, mental illness is a wide category, and the reactions of people with these illness' not only vary by the diagnosis, but also by the individual. I have seen people whose outward reaction is to be quiet and reserved, while others literally see things, thrash around, and scream as if possessed. Some just rock back and forth and mutter to themselves. This is one of the main reasons why mental illness is so hard to treat, there is no way to know what is going on in the head of someone suffering from it, unless they let you know, and even then, their view on it is very subjective.