Maybe it is just my impression, and all psychoanalysts do that; anyways, Dr. Wilbur in this movie appeared more as Sybils concerned friend to me, rather than a professional.Roughly 80 of movies dedicated to this topic are about serial killers, perverts, or demonic possessions, and their main goal is to make the public frightened, only to let them out of a cinema theater relieved: Whew, thank God it was just a movie.
Sybil Summary Movie Appeared MoreHowever, what such movies almost never show is that the majority of mental disorders are excruciating for people suffering from them; that suffering from a psychological problem is traumatizing and never pleasant; that it is a real drama, after all. At the same time, movies that honestly try to show mental problems as they really are often make great stories, deeply affecting the public, drawing attention to the problems and needs of mental patients, and increasing tolerance and compassion towards psychologically ill people. Sybil, the movie about a woman with dissociative identity disorder, is one of such pictures. Filmed in 2006 by Joseph Sargent as a remake of an adaptation of a book with the same name released in 1976 (the book itself, written by Flora Rheta Schreiber, was published in 1973), Sybil, despite some of its flaws, is a touching and dramatic story of a woman fighting for her mental welfare with 16 personalities occupying her mind. As an adult, Shirley started to visit Dr. Cornelia Wilbur, a New-York-based psychoanalyst trying to get back to normal life. Though Shirleys case was unique for psychiatry back then, Dr. Wilbur managed to bring her patient back to health, and remained her close friend for the rest of her life. Dr. Wilburs and Shirley Masons interviews were laid in the basis of Flora Schreibers book, three years after publication followed by a movie. Shirleys (or Sybils, as she is called in the book) story was so alarming and tragic, however, that in 2007, Joseph Sargent decided to make a new screen version of it. What scared Sybil even more is that people around her acted as if during these blackouts, she was still living a normal life, as if her body was possessed by someone else while Sybil was away. Rather soon, Dr. Wilbur understands that Sybil might have developed a split personality; her suspicions are confirmed when Sybil, slipping away during one of the meetings with the doctor, is substituted by Peggy Luan angry independent girl always trying to break things made of glass. As the treatment goes on, Dr. Wilbur meets Sybils other personalities: exquisite French woman Vickie, scared Peggy Ann, kind and religious Mary, bright and lively Vanessa, teenagers Tom and Sid, and many others. Each of these personalities emerged as Sybils reaction to horrible events she had gone through in her younger years; her child psyche, unable to withstand the cruelties not even an adult would, shattered into fragments, each being an aspect of the true Sybil. For example, as Sybil was always prohibited to manifest her anger, she had to suppress itto the extent when it became autonomous, transforming into Peggy Lu, a girl who helps get out all of Sybils rage. Being punished for crying, Sybil had to delegate this function to Peggy Ann; being an artistic person in love with everything beautiful, dreaming of journeys and new impressions, Sybil created Vickie and Vanessa; Marcia helps Sybils angst and suicidal thoughts, Mary was responsible for kindness, and so on. The reason standing behind the split was Sybils mother Hattie: a disturbed and deeply religious, conservative woman, supposedly suffering from schizophrenia. It is difficult to tell whether she loved Sybil, but due to her own life misfortunes, she turned into a monster, beating, raping, humiliating, suppressing, and literally trying to kill her child throughout her entire childhood. It is probably not wise to describe all the tortures Hattie subjected Sybil to; it is enough to say that those of them shown in the movie do not make even 50 of what Hattie really did to her daughter (the book is more detailed on this point). As a part of treatment, Dr. Wilbur had to use hypnosis, trying to dig into the most deeply-burrowed memories, and to merge all personalities in one. The movie ends with the scene of the first successful hypnosis session, followed by a short afterword, describing Sybils and Dr. Decades of treatment compressed into 90 minutes look, mildly speaking, unconvincingas well as the manner in which Jessica Lange acts as a psychoanalyst. No, I do not intend to say that she acted poorlyon the contrary, she is a skilled actress; but sometimes it seemed to me that whoever wrote the script for Jessica Langes character did not know much about psychoanalysts. She is too pressing, too intrusive; sometimes she throws her interpretations at Tammy Blanchards Sybil, as if trying to say, This is what you really feel, you must be feeling this, you must hate your mother for what she did to you. Perhaps it is a result of a really short time-study; perhaps her interpretations were mostly aimed at the movies audience, not Sybil. Maybe it is just my impression, and all psychoanalysts do that; anyways, Dr. Wilbur in this movie appeared more as Sybils concerned friend to me, rather than a professional.
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