Film Therapy

Angel – A 

An intriguing drama about beautiful blonde Angel who comes to Paris on a mission of mercy to show a self-destructive scam artist  man his worth. This is a tale about an other-worldly being visiting Earth on a mission. Shot in black-and-white film, is has stunning images of Paris. The film centres around Andre (Jamel Debbouze), a one-armed petty criminal who is in big trouble with a number of criminals.  

Fed up with him they send  their musclemen to force him to pay his debt they dangle Andre off the Eiffel Tower. Frightened to death, he visits the U.S. Embassy seeking help and gets none. He unsuccessfully tries to have the police put him in a cell overnight but that does not  work either.

He sees no way out but to commit suicide. Poised to  jump off a bridge into the Seine. He sees a woman jump into the river, without thought for his own well being he plunges in the water and saves her. It is quite a while before Andre realises that Angela (Rie Rasmussen) is  an Angel on a divine mission to save him.

He suffers from self loathing, he has never known love.

Angela tries to convince him to see himself in a new light, but old habits die hard.

They visit his creditors, Angel creatively helps him get out of debt. Angela has her own problems, she does not remember her past life, it causes her no end of consternation.

Carol

A love story set in Fifties New York.  This is an exceptionally beautiful film about longing, loss and the confusion and wonder of love. Carol (Cate Blanchett) is a New York socialite who has a daughter with a husband who dotes on her and desperately tries to hold onto her.

Carol on verge of getting divorced from a loveless marriage in which she feels trapped meets Therese (Rooney Mara) a shop girl, meet in a Manhattan department store.

During their first encounter while Carol is out on a shopping spree, the attraction is instant – Sparks fly between them as their connection deepens. Both are intrigued by each other which makes them strive to become better versions of themselves.

 

The passion between them is tangible against the backdrop of 1950’s conservatism, the role of women in the 1950 was repressive and constrictive in many ways. Society placed high importance and many expectations on behaviour at home as well as in public. Women were supposed to fulfil certain roles, such as a caring mother, a diligent homemaker, and an obedient wife. The perfect mother was supposed to stay home and nurture so society would accept them. Same sex relationships were considered taboo even a result of metal illness.

Carol makes a stand against the rigidly conformist world in which she is trapped. Blanchett brings both fury and fragility and vulnerability to the role she plays. She animates the role of a 1950s housewife with pathos and strength of a powerful woman.

In one of the most powerful scenes, she makes a plea to lawyers for the right to maintain contact with her daughter eloquently stating that she refuses to live against her own grain. which the men around her utterly by surprise.

Watch Cate Blanchett’s  interview about Carol

In the mood for Love

Two people come to the realisation that their respective spouses are having an affair and develop their own halting romance – is the platform for profound and moving reflections on life’s fundamentals. a film about, love, also betrayal, loss, missed opportunities, memory, the brutality of time’s passage, loneliness and more.

 

Watch an interview with the Director Wong Kar Wai

The One I love

The film begins with a simple, potent anecdote about how relationships change over time.

The couple whist in therapy to save their floundering marriage, Ethan (Mark Duplass) and Sophie (Elisabeth Moss) talk about the night they first met, the excitement of their instant connection, and their spontaneous decision to end the evening by leaping into a stranger’s pool.

Years later, with their relationship on the rocks, they sneak into the pool again, hoping to spark a little of the same magic or at least a small pulse of nostalgia.

Their attempt falls flat and has the oppose affect of deepening the schism between them. They have lost their initial connection and excitement.

They have not developed the emotional maturity to recognise that all relationships lose the original excitement and have to develop and adjust to life which deepens their relationship in the process.

The Memsahib
Set in India 1851 a schoolteacher Grace Roberts begins married life withphilanthropist king Raja Jai Rathod. Both devoted to their work and to each other,they embark on a journey to unite their people and ideals. In the same palace in 2005 a jaded divorcee discovers the resilience of love destiny and past lives.

My Blueberry Nights

Everyone has faults and My Blueberry Nights muses on love and the imperfection of relationships. It shows the transformative beauty of accepting imperfection. It is a darkly emotional love story following a relationship sparked by the late night diner encounters of two lovesick New York tweenty-somethings. 

Lizzie (Norah Jones) calls a restaraunt desperately trying to find out if her ex has been there. The owner, Jeremy (Jude Law) confirms  he has, with a woman.

 Lizzie upset confides in Jeremy and shares her experiences of relationships. Jeremy is an emotionally intelligent man with his own share of life experiences, and jar filled with keys left by his customers along with their pain. Each key has a story of Love to tell. 

The film observes the development of a relationships, the alienation and loneliness through ephemeral relationships and emotional longing where meaningful connections with others are perceived as fleeting, expirable, and most of all, intangible. Yet relationships are portrayed as perpetually needed.

This  disconnected awareness places the characters in a dance of intimacy  desiring  closeness and intimacy, allowing love to exist only at arms-length, as they simultaneously long to be closer.

Neurotic New York comedian Alvy Singer falls in love with the ditsy Annie Hall

A Brilliant Young Mind
This is a coming of age Movie. It follows a group of awkward teenage students set to participate in the International Mathematics Olympiad. Nathan is preoccupied with finding patterns in all things.
The main Character Nathan hides in the safety of his own private world, he struggles to connect with people, often pushing away those who want to be closest to him, including his mother, Julie (Sally Hawkins). Without the ability to understand love or affection, Nathan finds the comfort and security he needs in numbers and mathematics. Mentored by his unconventional and anarchic teacher, Mr Humphreys (Rafe Spall), it becomes clear that Nathan’s talents are enough to win him a place on the British team competing at the highly revered International Mathematics Olympiad.

Boyhood Everyone improvises their lives. It is the basis of play and the spirit of imagination.

There are some people and institutions whom dictate to you how you should be and offer you a script to help you play your role.

No one likes to be controlled it inhibits creativity and the spirit of play.

There are people who prefer to say ‘yes’ and there are people who prefer to say ‘no’. Those who say ‘yes’ are rewarded by the adventures they have. Those who say ‘no’ are rewarded by the safety they attain. Keith Johnstone

The film explores the art of improvisation as a path of wisdom, creativity, and personal renewal.

As I grew up, everything started getting grey and dull. I could still remember the amazing intensity of the world I’d lived in as a child, but I thought the dulling of perception was an inevitable consequence of age – just as a lens of the eye is bound gradually to dim. I didn’t understand that clarity is in the mind. Keith Johnstone, Impro

Your childhood memories especially the words you use to describe them and the feelings you attach to them can provide proof insight into who you are, your relationships and how you live today.

Here are some questions to spur your journey after watching Boyhood.

As a child what was your most frequent emotion or mood? Were you Happy? Sad? Why? Did you feel sorry for yourself? Why?

What were your brothers and sisters like? Did you get along with them? Why or why not? Did your parents have much time to spend with you?

Did you believe your parents? Can you think of a time when you argued with either one of them? Do you remember a time when you realised that they were not perfect or invincible?

Did you get spanked much as a child? Why? Could you manipulate or ‘ bluff’ your parents? How? What frightened you as a child? Can you remember some of your ‘scariest’ experiences? What were some “most embarrassing” experiences? Who and what were involved? Did you feel lonely or rejected? Why?

The film Inside Out is about the inner workings of the mind, which controls how people behave. In the film, each person has five emotions living inside their head – Joy, Sadness, Fear, Disgust, and Anger.

Joy is responsible for your experience of happiness.

Disgust protects you from being poisoned or embarrassed.

Fear keeps you away from danger.

Anger protects you from unfairness and injustice.

Sadness is not really understood until the very end of the film-

Empathy involves understanding another person’s experience from their perspective – walking in someone else’s shoes to feel what they are feeling without judgment – empathy is incompatible with shame and judgment.

“empathy moves us to a place of courage and compassion. Through it, we come to realize that our perspective is not the perspective.” Berne Brown

Each emotion learns to acknowledge the importance and the appropriateness of each of their responses in given situations.

The film describes how your core memories impact your personality and how your “islands of personalities” make up who you are.

It touches briefly on the external world in which people are constantly judging you for everything you do and say and how we react to being judged.

Childhood experiences with significant people such as parents develop into core beliefs, expectations and attitudes, that define who you are. This impacts on how you form relationships and relate to others. Before birth and into childhood, your unconscious mind receives a lot of information upon which you form your beliefs about self, others, and the world.

Without self-awareness, you are be controlled by these outdated beliefs. Awareness of why you make certain choices frees you to make good relational choices and find freedom.

Another EarthI
Rhoda Williams ( Brit Marling) aspires to explore the cosmos. A brilliant composer, John Burroughs, has just reached the pinnacle of his profession and is about to have a second child. On the eve of the discovery of a duplicate earth, tragedy strikes and the lives of these strangers become irrevocably intertwined. The film explores the idea of a parallel Earth.
Another Earth?
The Geek philosopher Philolaus a student of Pythagoras paved the way for cosmology. Another planet, a counter earth, identical to the Earth he thought must exist to maintain harmony, balance and to explain the universe. The other earth was thought to be unlimited in possibilities. Celestial.
This hidden counter earth called Antichthon was thought to have been placed between the heavens and Earth to prevent man from looking directly at God.
This counterweight, was seen as an omnipresent, omnipotent, and impartial companion.
Today, the Counter-Earth is real once again.
What will Another Earth be like?

About Time
When Tim Lake (Domhnall Gleeson) reaches the age of 21, his father (Bill Nighy) tells him a secret; The men in their family can travel through time. Although he cannot change history, Tim resolves to improve his life by getting a girlfriend. He meets Mary (Rachel McAdams), falls in love and finally wins her heart through time travel and a little planning. He discovers that his special ability cannot shield him and those he loves from the problems of ordinary life.
The film combines romantic comedy, time travel, a story about Father and son that reveals what comes from a spiritual appreciation of the present moment and all its delights.

I Origins

A molecular biologist’s study of the human eye has far-reaching implications about humanity’s scientific and spiritual beliefs and reincarnation.

The Matrix “You’re here because you know something. What you know you can’t explain. But you feel it. You’ve felt it your entire life.”

Neo (Keanu Reeves) believes that Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) can answer his question; What is the Matrix? Neo is contacted by Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss), a beautiful stranger who leads him into an underworld where he meets Morpheus. They fight a brutal battle for their lives against viciously intelligent secret agents. It is a truth that could cost Neo something more precious than his life. There are many interesting aspects of The Matrix that provoke discussion, arguments, and debates over meanings of particular scenes, characters, or dialogue. The movie exists on two planes; the physical and the cyber. The ‘physical’ world in the movie is the spiritual plane and the cyber world of the matrix is our earthly existence

The Theory of Everything
A Cambridge University student in the 60’s Stephen Hawking (Eddie Redmayne) falls in love with fellow student Jane Wilde (Felicity Jones). Hawking learns that he has motor neuron disease. Jane remains by his side while he begins a study of time, of which he has been told he very little left, according to his doctor. This couple defy terrible odds and break new ground in the field of medicine and science, achieving more than either could hope to imagine.

Waking Life
What is a dream, and what is reality? Can you distinguish between the two? And what does a dream mean? These are few questions of that Linklater’s film provides. The main character wanders through moments, dialogues, unnamed characters-in some important scenes, he is not even present. In another, we see a couple from another movie verse (Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy from the popular romantic movie franchise “Before Sunrise/Sunset/Midnight“), with no explanation.
Moving from the ethereal to the real, questioning the validity of each aspect of existence, and ending up straight into an existential crisis, this film will fill your mind with philosophical questions, the biggest one being: Is my life real?

Lucy
Lucy’s (Scarlett Johansson) boyfriend tricks her into delivering a briefcase to a supposed business contact. She was a carefree student who is abducted by thugs who intend to turn her into a drug mule. She is surgically implanted with a package containing a powerful chemical. It leaks into her system, giving her superhuman abilities, including telekinesis and telepathy. With her former captors in pursuit, Lucy seeks out a neurologist (Morgan Freeman), who she hopes will be able to help her.

Her brain becomes powerful enough to see the world as it really is which, as it turns out, is exactly like a Luc Besson film. The plot has been inspired by the old myth that human beings use only 10 per cent of their potential brainpower which, like all myths, speaks to deeper fears about the universe and our dispensable role within it.
German philosopher Immanuel Kant warned that the human brain, in its pinky-grey feebleness, has to rattle the world into an order it doesn’t possess purely to make sense of it. Otherwise, as Kant snappily puts it, “all constitution, all relations of objects in space and time, indeed space and time themselves, would disappear.”

Looper

This film is a futuristic film where time travel exists and is accessible only to those who have the means to pay for it on the black market.

When the mob want someone eliminated they can send the target into the past along with a hitman.

The film has plenty of surprises and mysteries to unravel amidst the time travel elements.

 

Black Bird
A Young man struggles with his family relationships, sexuality and religion in a conservative Mississippi town.
When he opens himself to love he discovers that becoming a man means accepting himself as he is.

Torch Song Trilogy

Arnold Beckoff (Harvey Fierstein) is a gay man working as a female impersonator in 1970s New York City, he looking for love and acceptance, but neither come easily. After a series of difficult relationships, Arnold believes he has found the love of his life Alan (Matthew Broderick). The couple make plans to adopt, then tragedy strikes and Arnold’s life is shaken to its very core, leading to a confrontation with his overbearing mother (Anne Bancroft), who has never approved of her son’s lifestyle.

The Kids are all right Lesbian couple Jules (Julianne Moore) and Nic (Annette Bening) have been together for almost 20 years and have two teenage offspring named Joni and Laser. They were conceived through artificial insemination. Joni and Laser seek out their biological father without their Mothers knowing. They begin a relationship with a restaurateur named Paul (Mark Ruffalo) and complications arise when the teens bond with Paul and invite him into their lives.

American Sniper  A U.S. Navy SEAL Chris Kyle (Bradley Cooper) takes his sole mission to protect his comrades to heart. He becomes one of the most lethal snipers in American history. His amazing skill of pinpoint accuracy saves countless lives, simultaneously makes him a prime target.

He kills lots of people, including women and children and he watches his close friends die in front of him. He experienced “trauma” repeatedly and intensely.

He begins to show symptoms of PSTD during his brief re-integrations during his homecomings and reintegration into civilian society.

He appears uncomfortable in his own skin, anxious about being away from the battlefield, lost in thought with intrusive awful war-related memories  and, less frequently, sucked back into some re-experiences. He is opposed to his wife’s efforts to discuss his experiences. He is unable to relax into his old life and affable personality. His default mode at home is irritable and guarded; he is visibly edgy when he is startled by everyday noises.

Soldiers who experience battle develop psychological defenses to get through. However, when they return home the pain that they could not allow themselves to feel at the time comes crashing in on them weeks, months or even years after the fact. The pain gets triggered by, a smell that is reminiscent of their location abroad, sounds, or visual cues can trigger an extreme reaction that makes them feel like they are exploding inside. The combination of feeling trapped, terrified and at risk is part of what contributes to the PTSD syndrome.

A natural response when experiencing frightening or overwhelming situations is to protect yourself .

You do this by running away, retaliating in some way or, when neither are possible, by shutting down, by becoming “invisible.”

These defensive strategies can result in disconnecting or hiding from the very pain you need to face in order to remain aware of what is happening around you.

If  a frightening situation occurs and you can process it with someone who cares and make intellectual sense of it. You can learn to be more resilient when the  problems occur again. You can become more efficient in either handling or avoiding difficulties.

When this does not happen, with stress and trauma in the home caused by a parents’  erratic or irresponsible behaviour. The pain becomes internalised and unexpressed creating a whirlpool  of unprocessed emotion in your inner world. This unprocessed pain does not go away. It can be triggered by range of stimulus  returning to the the surface. This kind of old pain needs to be processes you may not be aware that it is from from childhood which gets triggered by and projected into your adult relationships.

The Deer Hunter Michael (Robert De Niro), Nick (Christopher Walken) and Steven (John Savage), lifelong friends from a working-class Pennsylvania steel town, prepare to ship out overseas after Steven’s wedding and one final group hunting trip. Whilst in Vietnam on tour their dreams of military honour are quickly shattered by the inhumanities of war. Those who survive are haunted by the experience, as is Nick’s hometown sweetheart, Linda (Meryl Streep)

Saving Private Ryan 

Captain John Miller (Tom Hanks) takes his men behind enemy lines to find Private James Ryan, whose three brothers have been killed in combat. Surrounded by the brutal realties of war, while searching for Ryan, each man embarks upon a personal journey and discovers the inner strength to triumph over an uncertain future with honour, integrity and courage.

Mystic River

When the daughter (Emmy Rossum) of ex-con Jimmy Marcus (Sean Penn) is murdered, two of his childhood friends from the neighborhood are involved. Dave (Tim Robbins), a blue-collar worker, was the last person to see her alive. Sean (Kevin Bacon) a homicide detective, is heading up the case. As Sean proceeds with his investigation, Jimmy conducts one of his own through neighborhood contacts. Eventually, Jimmy suspects Dave is the culprit and considers taking the law into his own hands.

Thanks for sharing

A recovering sex addict (Mark Ruffalo) tries not to fall off the wagon as he tries to form an intimate connection with his  new girlfriend (Gwyneth Paltrow) who feels the need to express her rampant sexuality.

Flight Airline pilot Whip Whitaker (Denzel Washington) has a problem with drugs and alcohol. He is a functioning addict and has managed his work life well. His luck runs out when a disastrous mechanical malfunction sends his plane hurtling toward the ground. Whip pulls off a miraculous crash-landing that results in only six lives lost. Shaken to the core, Whip vows to get sober but when the crash investigation exposes his addiction, he finds himself in an even worse situation.This film is about a conflicted hero who is an addict and a psychologically unhealthy individual who happens to be an expert pilot. Whips drug abuse is one of many symptoms stemming from an underlying causes such as a poor sense of identity, unhealthy beliefs inability to manage and understand his emotions which lead to him acting out.

in 1997 Jordan Belfort (Leonardo DiCaprio) takes an entry-level job at a Wall Street brokerage firm. Heading into the 1990s still in his 20s, Belfort founds his own firm, Stratton Oakmont. Together with his trusted lieutenant (Jonah Hill) and a merry band of brokers, Belfort makes a huge fortune by defrauding wealthy investors out of millions. However, while Belfort and his cronies partake in a hedonistic brew of sex, drugs and thrills, the SEC and the FBI close in on his empire of excess.

The film explores Narcissism and the self-centeredness of Addiction The narcissist tends to view other people, not necessarily as individuals in thier own right, but as extensions of themselves. A narcissist often prefers to have people around him who behave in such a way as to meet and gratify his own needs or enhance his own vision of himself. If they act separately, have too many of their own points of view or their own opinions they threaten the narcissist’s equilibrium. This mirrors addiction. The addict is absorbed in getting their next fix; that is how they maintain their equilibrium, albeit very unhealthy. Their needs come first.

Jordan see’s people as pawns to be manipulated to meet his self-interest. Jordan is convincingly logical about his observations of the marketplace and passionate about success, and assured in his belief that nothing bad could possibly happen. Jordan is fantastic at this craft, because he is eloquent and charismatic and he knows what people want. He is able to paint a vivid picture of success, and make someone else feel like that success is within his or her grasp.

There is a difference between manipulation and altruism.  He can act as though he really wants to give other people what they want, while simultaneously not caring about the fact that the people who are invested in him are going to lose everything.

The narcissist also tends to be absorbed in themselves and in meeting their next need and rather unaware and even uncaring of the needs of those around them. The same is true of an addict.The needs of those around them have to come second to their meeting their own, often led by an overpowering desire to meet there ‘need’ be it a drink, drug, food or sexual encounter. Both narcissist and addict are self absorbed.

Addiction creates a type of narcissism.

It preoccupies a person’s body, mind and soul. People who live with an addict, who love them and depend on them to in a relationship, can find life discouraging. It is like living with a narcissist because no matter what you do or how hard you try, you will always come second; second to the addict’s pressing needs, second to their constant preoccupations, second to their disease. Freud suggested that people can become jealous of the narcissist because they seem to be so pleasantly oblivious to the feelings of accountability to others that the rest of us are plagued by.

If you could access the inner world of a narcissist or addict and peek inside you might be startled at the emptiness and loneliness you would find. Being so out of touch to the cares and needs of others renders a person disconnected from their relational worlds. Whatever they are doing to meet their needs is not working in the long run.

One of the important tasks a person is to learn is how to be in a loving or connected relationship with others.

We are always in relationship to someone. Learning to be connected to a sense of self while in the presence of others is one of the most important developmental tasks. Those who grow up with addicted or narcissistic parents who are not good at nurturing good self esteem in others, developing a secure sense of self can be challenging.