The Subtle Art of Acting Insane 

All the movies mentioned can be found on our Letterboxd and if you have suggestions please write them down below! letterboxd.com/ducinema/list/psycho-characters/

I wonder how the portrayal of “insane” people has affected actual people with mental illness. Usually they are perpetrators of violence in films, while in reality the mentally ill are far more likely to be victims of violence. I see a lot of neurodivergent mannerisms used to make the audience uncomfortable in scenes such as asylum scenes, which are possibly reaffirming that neurodivergent people are inhuman or scary. Could be a good essay lol

These actors should be given more credit. Acting insane is no easy business to begin with. You've gotta have a level of talent to be able to pull off even the subtletest form of madness or insanity.

shutter island is such an underrated movie, it's what happens when you make masterpiece after masterpiece, eventually you can make something amazing, but since it doesn't surpass your previous work, no one pays attention anymore

“You see madness is like gravity. All it takes is a little push!” -Heath Ledgers Joker (R.I.P on that note).

Ive got a psychotic illness. Donnie Darko and Momento are my favourite representation. They show how their intentions start out good and wanting to help people they love and they only become the monster when it outpaces them. They tried to be good regardless of the result.

I read an article done by an investigative journalist on mental health institutions. They played the part of a mental health patient, and were admitted to a hospital. But once you get into the mental health system, it's hard to convince anyone that you're anything besides mentally ill. So that investigative journalist got trapped in the insane asylum and wasn't able to get out. When they tried to explain that they were only there for research, the doctors would not listen to or believe their story. It goes to show that being exposed to or placed in such environments can actually create more illness rather than cure it, by setting up the doctor/patient roles which become fixed and internalized. It's definitely a caveat for the field of mental health, and portrayed well in these movies as these sorts of classifications can easily become "contagious". At the same time, it's not to be dismissive of people suffering from genuine mental health challenges who do require treatment and the importance of the role of therapists. It just makes you questions institutions and their methods to prompt them to be aware of those factors.

It's crazy to me how well Javier pulled off Antoine's accent considering how heavy his normal speaking accent is.

Mia Goth does it pretty well in ‘Pearl’.

what about female characters like this? from classics like black swan, persona, possession, perfect blue & gone girl to hidden gems like may, helter skelter, to die for, audition & a tale of two sisters to more recent entries like pearl, titane & midsommar, i feel there’s a lot of characters you could’ve included or at least mentioned in this video…

I'm kinda disappointed that Requiem for a Dream was not mentioned in this. The last 30 minutes of the movie shows one of the best descent to madness from a movie that i have ever seen.

the fun fact of google tilting itself when you search Dutch angle is so cool and interesting

I do enjoy that you mention early on that Shutter Island has a big plot twist you don't want to go into but then dive into Fight Club's plot twist without so much as a warning!

Fun fact: Everybody looks crazy with the Kubrick stare

12:10 the way he says "Sir?" and his age and general demeanour suggest military service in his youth. The Cohens are good with impactful character details

Wish u included some "female insanity" in this! Or maybe make a seperate video on it? Great performances such as Angelina Jolie in "Girl interrupted" or Mia Goth in "Pearl" come to mind for example.

Favorite line from Shutter Island: "Why you all wet baby?" Saw Shutter Island in theaters in an IMAX theater. With Martin's directing and the music score, WOW is all I can say.

lmao "dorthy was knocked out by a hurricane"

Ignoring the "sigma" memes that plagued Taxi Driver. It still describes loneliness perfectly almost 50 years after it was made. Masterpiece of a movie

I want more insane iconic women, I know there are some. But not enough.

I'm extremely shocked that Pearl portrayed by Mia Goth wasn't mentioned because that was an amazing portrayal of Acting Insane

In Wizard of Oz Dorothy is knocked out by a tornado, not a hurricane.

great video!, I always find myself learning or seeing something i didn't knew about a movie I've watched or finding out great "new" movies by watching your stuff; really would love if u made one about city of god (cidade de deus), one of my favorites, mainly because it portraits insanely well the reality of the favelas in my country too.

The best portrayal, in my personal opinion (most pleasing to watch out of all roles I've seen, at least the first time through) Is Christian Bale in The Machinist. My second favorite is the infamous role Toby Maguire did in Brothers. Less insane, but more... losing sanity.

Huge respect for putting the ad at the end. First ad in a long time that I didn’t skip

Brad Pitt‘s best roles are the ones where he plays a person who is insane

I did enjoy the video, and seeing the various depictions of insanity in fiction, but the title did make me believe it was going to explore more of how actors portray specific characters in different ways.

I disagree on the Shining bit because it shows that Jack was abusive the whole time and he was also a raging alcoholic who went several months sober so it's not necessarily the isolation alone that got him

i think its interesting how attracted we are to films like that

The FX series LEGION is a show case for everything mentioned. It’s beyond amazing! I’ve never been shocked by how beautiful, scary, suspenseful and well shot the show it. It has some fantastic acting, directing, music and I can’t say enough about. FX LEGION

“Directors love crazy characters!” Me, an aspiring director: “why, yes!”

Jacob's Ladder and The Fisher King deserve a mention here, I think.

Great video but just one thing, I felt like the pacing was a bit fast, a bit more depth for each movie would be amazing!

that google angle thing is cool, even just looking at the page makes me disorientated

"Have I ever told you the definition of insanity?"

5:22 aw man, the Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman fans in me are sad you didn't use that version of this story

i love this video please make more!!! your channel is awesome

Missed opportunity to add "Girl, Interrupted"

Great piece … actually got a shock seeing that sequel to wizard of oz , but hadn’t seen it since childhood … must look it up.

this was one of the only videos i was 100% invested in for some reason

There is something captivating in these kind of movies i liked almost every movie that you mentioned here, such a strong list. But Shutter Island remains one of the greatest movie that i ever watched, its one of those when you have your jaw wide open at the end of it... Surely top 3 in my list.

Yo that Dutch Angle google search idea was top notch.

Your videos are incredible!

Brad Pitt didn't actually won an Oscar for 12 Monkeys. He was nominated, but Kevin Spacey was in the same category and won for The Usual Suspects.

Am I insane, or have I seen this before?

I've rewatched this video like 6 times now, a masterpiece honestly.

Insane = In sane.

Thank you for the content, it's very entertaining and informational! 😇

In the Wizard of Oz, Dorothy isn't knocked out by a hurricane. Remember she is in Kansas in the United States where the correct name is tornado.

This was incredibly instresting to watch such a good video

Ah so a list for movies I should watch, great thank you :D

Very interesting. I am late commenting on this because earlier this year I spent a couple months in psychiatric institutions. Initially admitted to a specialist eating disorders unit, but due to my addiction to prescription medication (which I had been using to manage my symptoms) escalated out of control I was transferred to a general acute station where the environment was completely different. I did not know about shock corridor effect but describes very accurately what heppened to me and what I observed happening to other patients also. The external environment (bars on windows, being woken up several times each night by the nurses shining a flashlight on one's face and sometimes additionally by the sounds of screaming and banging noises is enough, but that is just the baseline. There are plenty more stress layers) combined with one's internal environment, which is already sub-optimal if one is in an institution, is the perfect storm for deterioration of one's mental well-being. Conditioning to such environments happens very quickly. I came out as a shell of my former self, I was detoxed from the meds but my physical and psychological condition was even worse than it had been on admission and some of my newly-acquired symptoms resembled several other psychiatric disorder but I have since been diagnosed with PTSD. I am receiving ongoing treatment for this but I am glad to say I am doing better now. It has taken a lot of fortitude, but alone I don't believe even that would have been enough. I don't think I could be where I am today without the support of good friends and family. I'd seen a couple of these movies before, but after real-life experience/exposure what strikes me about these characters to be so accurate are subtle nuances to body language and facial expressions; and finally I will say that to circle back round to the shock corridor effect I can absolutely see how that can so easily happen.

Lol, thinking back to The Wizard of Oz with that old time acting Dorothy really does seem to have a few screws loose lol Like if you met someone talking like that it would atleast make you uncomfortable.

I like how you took the mental illness route with Donnie Darko, it's only when I watched it as an adult did I even think to imagine that it could all be in his head. As an edgy teenager when I first saw it I could only view it through the lens of Donnie is right, and the adults are wrong. It's somewhat ruined by the directors cut that dives further into the tangent universe idea and the other rules for time travel. But it's a great and contradictory exercise into the idea of the death of the author, since we have 2 versions of the film that offer up wildy different interpretations.

Main reason for wanting to get into acting for me

The greatest masterpieces of all time that have stood the test of time and always will.🙏

fantastic video man

According to me the most underrated example would be Paul Hackett from After hours by Martin Scorsese. He went insane due to situational reasons.

@6:40 A lot of hurricanes in Kansas when the world was black and white (sepia and white technically).

Great Video Man !!

This is such a well made video

Crazy? I was crazy once. They locked me in a room. A rubber room. A rubber room with rats, and rats make me crazy…

This video deserves millions of views. Excellent content!

A masterful video, well done

Could you please make a list of the movies you analyze in the description😁

Dorothy in the wizard of oz did not get hit by a hurricane... It took place in Kansas, and there was no rain. It was a tornado.

interesting that the actors featured are the best to ever do it

My experience with actorz & film makerz leads me to believe that performing " sanity " maybe the bigger on screen challenge.

Damn i thought this vid had 500k+ views. Although it was only released 10 days ago, these numbers don't do it justice. The content alone is outstanding. This channel deserves better.

"Made it Ma, Top of the world" ~ James Corgney. White-Heat...!!!

Thank you for the knowledge about the “Dutch angle” google search

Blue Jasmine is one of my favourites like Cate Blanchett is so amazing and sublime

My Goood did you just say Holy Motors? Probably my craziest filmexperience, I love it so mich and nooobody talks about it! Big ups!

The fact that I looked up "dutch angle" on google as soon as it was mentioned, and didn't even notice it tilted the screen, then when he mentions it again at 1:36 I went and googled it again just to check

I'm surprised you didn't mention Jacob's Ladder, fantastically depicting PTSD

You should have mentioned/shown Mr. Robot

the best performance regarding mental illness i have seen on screen is probably Joaquin Phoenix in the Joker. He captured it very well

thank u for the final key.

"All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy."

this was recommended for me and i think i know why

Great vid❤

The subtle art of acting insane - proceeds to show movies of actors shouting and literally acting crazy

Wow. What a way to describe The Shining...

Don't forget about Birdman's shadow self too.

@:05😂 . SUBBED ‼️ Christian Bale as American Psycho to Batman vs Heath Leadger [joker] :chefs kiss:

Which Papillon movie did you use for the list, the 1973 one, or the 2018 one? I want to add it to my list but don't know which to watch. Great list!! And fun fact, I'm a photographer that loves to use dutch angle in my photography xD I never knew the real backstory behind the shot, I just like the effect.

Silver Linings Playbook is not even mentioned. Its crazy.

Bro forgot the first and second rule of fight club.

shouldve added dexter too

T'Nia Miller as Victorine LaFourcade in Fall of the House of Usher. The last scene she's in is unbelievably good.

Dorothy was knocked out by a “twister a twister!” Not a hurricane. Don’t mean to be pedantic. But a tornado is just way too different from a hurricane to not correct.

List of movies in order please?

7:00 My personal favourite of in trope is the movie Sucker Punch. I was obsessed with this movie for a few months and I've had a big crush for one specific character. I think Sucker Punch is an underrated movie bc many people didn't understand the movie. They think that this movie is just sexy girls in fighting sequences combined with some confusing scenes in an asylum.

I'm surprised characters from Breaking bad were not mentioned, some great examples there

Eu sou fã de todos os filmes citados.

Wow, he's so crazy that's so interesting.

Gylenhall deserves an Oscar!!!!

The taxi driver

Meme’s existed prior to us calling them “memes”. The very first time I saw Seven, I knew “What’s in the box?” would live beyond the movie In fact, I find it hilarious when my kids say something like, “What’s in the box?” Then get surprised that I know what’s going on. I’ve shown them where some things REALLY originated from (Big Hint: NOT Tik Tok) and they’re even More amazed. Side Note: I appreciate each “age” or “era” my kids are in for various reasons. Like now they’re having their own opinions in things. Some are similar to mine and some are not. However, now when I don’t know something or don’t agree, they’re ok with it and they will enjoy a quick 2mn history of a meme vs where they just left “ugh, all adults are so stupid”. Of course, they still think I’m weird or lame for this or that but they don’t care anymore. They’re not embarrassed by it

"Dorothy got knocked out by a hurricane" what the heck