One aspect of the film that I really want to dig into is Mary Tyler Moore’s portrayal of Beth. Not your typical doctor-patient interaction, but in this scene, it feels appropriate and real. Presumably, this is the moment where Conrad begins to heal, just as the film reaches its close. Berger wins Conrad’s trust, we see him help Conrad through a serious crisis (the completed suicide of a close friend he met while in the hospital), leading to a breakthrough in his treatment. Conrad’s suicide attempt is neither romanticized nor demonized: we see the scars, but we also understand the pain he’s experienced that led him to attempt to end his life.Īfter Dr. We hear his swim coach ask inappropriately if he’s “on tranquilizers” or if they gave him “shock therapy” in the hospital. We see his agitation, his insomnia, his irritability, the ways in which he physically acts out. He talks extensively about the guilt he feels about the accident, which Dr. He often wakes up from nightmares about the accident where he witnessed his brother’s death. The movie does an excellent job of showing symptoms of depression (and probably PTSD) in Conrad’s life. Think Robin Williams in Good Will Hunting. Despite this, the character does get a lot of things right: he asks (mostly) open-ended questions, confronts Conrad appropriately about the guilt he has about his brother’s death, and encourages him to pursue the goals that are important to him. He’s foul-mouthed, abrupt, likes to ask the client “why” a whole bunch - he’s not a boring old shrink, he’s a Cool Shrink™. Either of these events on their own would be a shock, but the fact that they happen so close together has clearly taken its toll on both of them.Ĭonrad, though reluctant, eventually goes to see a psychiatrist (Judd Hirsch), who hits probably every single one of the psychiatrist stereotypes. On top of the death of their older son, their younger son attempted suicide and was hospitalized. The parents, Calvin and Beth (Donald Sutherland and Mary Tyler Moore), are struggling in their own ways to cope with recent events. The not-so-happy family.Īnd it’s not just Conrad that we see adjusting. He has spent four months in the hospital and is now trying to adjust back to life at home, even though everything has changed. Shortly into the movie, we learn that Conrad (Timothy Hutton), the younger brother of the late Buck, has been out of the hospital for a month after a serious suicide attempt. Ordinary People is a 1980 film about a family coming to terms with the death of their older son. And, after watching through it the first time this weekend, I can see why! My only prior exposure to this movie was watching a few clips during my Direct Practice class of my first year of grad school - and even then, I could tell it was doing a lot of things right.
Ever since I started telling people I run a blog about the portrayal of mental illness in film, there has been one movie people have recommended to me the most: Ordinary People.