Happy Mind, Happy Life - Three mental health movies that are way more entertaining than you might think
Films with a mental health focus might not be the first ones you reach for on a lazy night in - but as these three modern classics prove, stories with impactful themes like grief, isolation and trauma can make for spectacular surprise viewing.
good.film
2 years ago
Share
Big question time: can a bunch of fictional characters change the real world in just a couple of hours? We think so - but what's certain is the power of movies to change your life, right now. And that’s perhaps no more true than with movies that explore mental health.
According to Beyond Blue, half of all the mental health conditions we experience at some point in our lives will have started by age 14, with young people the least likely age group to seek professional help. So seeing mental health depicted on screen - both the struggles and the triumphs - is vitally important, reflecting the battles that many of us face starting from when we’re young.
Of course, there’s thousands of films that grapple with socially significant issues like mental health, and it’s fair to say not all of them are a breezy fun-filled time as you suck on your Maltesers. But fear not! We’ve rustled up three of the most entertaining flicks that tackle mental health head-on, serving up thought-provoking discussion and popcorn-munching entertainment. Covering comedy, coming-of-age and horror (and not just the horror of being a teenager), these three movies are way more entertaining than you might normally give a ‘mental health movie’ credit for being. They’ll make you laugh, make you cry, and maybe make you scream - perhaps even all three at once (we’re looking at you, Midsommar).
So, without any further ado…
The Perks of Being a Wallflower (Stephen Chbosky, 2012)
Take a bow, teen movie genre: you’re finally being taken seriously. More than that, “teenage” stories are being told with a finesse that points toward filmmakers actually knowing what it was like to be a teen, inside and out. From Lady Bird to Eighth Grade and The Edge of Seventeen, contemporary cinema seems to be getting it right when it comes to depicting adolescent mental health realistically.
Fast becoming an all-time classic coming of age film, The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a love letter to every kid (and, let’s be real, every adult) that has ever felt like they don’t fit in. Starring the once-child stars Emma Watson, Logan Lerman and Ezra Miller, the kids are all grown up and – only sorta – alright.
Set in 1991, high schooler Charlie (Lerman) is a self-described wallflower, someone prone to watching life happen from the sidelines. But when he meets eccentric senior students Sam (Watson) and Patrick (Miller), Charlie’s isolated inward-facing high school experience opens up just when he needs it most. Because for Charlie, simmering underneath the normal amounts of angst, alienation and teenage torment is a current of more dangerous fragility. (Hey, high school years aren’t always the matching plaid outfits and terrible driving tests that some coming of age films would have us believe. I know right – as if!)
We learn that Charlie’s young life has already been scarred by the wounds of trauma: he’s suffered from clinical depression since childhood, and spent time in a mental health care institution after his best friend died of suicide. But through newfound friendship and honest, open connections, Charlie realises he isn’t so alone with these scars. Patrick and Sam reveal wounds of their own; pain borne from homophobic abuse and childhood sexual trauma. If a problem shared is a problem halved, then these kids’ problems are halved three times over. This trio of misfit dorks find hope and strength in the love that binds their friendship - a love so large it might even be infinite. *Hey Alexa, play David Bowie’s ‘Heroes’...*
Tackling themes of growth, family, suicide and, ultimately, friendship and love, Perks explores these topics with a grace and sensitivity that’s notable more than ten years after its release. A story about human connection at its core, there’s a revelatory beauty to The Perks of Being a Wallflower - prompting those who watch to remember that they’re always a little less alone than they may sometimes feel.
Midsommar (Ari Aster, 2019)
Imagine the classic horror movie: constant darkness, monsters hiding in the shadows, jump scares and cheap tricks that have you yelping and clutching your chest. Now, take all that away, fill the void with flowers and bright sunshine, and what’s left? Believe it or not, one of the most entertaining horror films of the 2010s: Midsommar.
It's not just genre tropes and stereotypical scares that Midsommar dares confront differently, but also its depiction of immense grief. The film skilfully deals with the heavy subject matter in a way that feels like an entirely fresh take for the horror genre. (An aside here: while often dismissed as sugar hits for teens reserved for novelty holidays, horror films confront issues of mental health as much as any genre; after all, what we fear most is the stuff horror movies are made of. Amongst that is grief - an unavoidable trauma that we can all relate to, and exactly what Midsommar explores.)
After losing her family to tragic events, Dani, played by the always superb Florence Pugh - AKA Miss Flo - attempts to find a distraction from her grief by following her boyfriend and his friends on an anthropological trip to a summer festival in a remote Swedish town. With her relationship in strife and the grips of grief growing tighter around her neck, a wholesome, sun-filled getaway seems like the saving grace Dani is most in need of. Boy oh boy, was Miss Flo wrong.
Aster focuses on the psychology of Dani as she initially remains sceptical, then gradually becomes swept up in the (increasingly questionable) pagan rituals of the commune. Community and family are shown to her in a way that she thought she had lost - and shown to us with a visual and emotional wallop.
As feasts are served and May Queens are crowned, the world of Midsommar - at a latitude and time of year bathed in 24/7 daylight - plays out painted in bright summer colours and crisp, glowing sunshine. You can almost smell the hay and honeybees. It’s the film’s way of daring you to make sense of Dani’s mental health: her jumble of grief and confusion being processed not in the dark, not behind closed doors, but completely out in the open and into the light. And that juxtaposition is exactly what makes Midsommar the gripping, unnerving, insightful film it is: Aster’s ability to take everything you expect from a horror film and then throw it out the window. Or have it walk off a cliff…
Bo Burnham: Inside (Bo Burnham, 2021)
In a time of toilet paper shortages and overnight curfews, it was forgiven for most of us to go a little insane during the COVID-19 lockdowns. But while some of us survived the scariness of the outside world by turning to film and TV - finding a reprieve in the fictional worlds of others - comedian Bo Burnham instead embraced his own world, staying (and looking) inside. Bo Burnham: Inside is a one-man show of songs and skits, scenes and bits, all performed and recorded within the confines of Burnham’s tiny home.
Essentially a musical vlog of Burnham’s efforts to retain his sanity while the world outside was collectively crumbling, this comedy special of pop-music bangers and satirical pieces to camera is one of the best things to come out of COVID, full stop. Always a man of witty observations (Bo exploded to fame in YouTube’s infancy with his home-recorded comedy songs at the tender age of 16), Burnham has transformed his talents to the international streaming stage of Netflix - creating a sense of community in a time when it felt lacking. We were all inside, watching Inside.
When we see Burnham slump to the depths of his pandemic despair, making fun of his own depression and anxiety provoked by the catastrophic impact of COVID and lockdowns, there’s a real sense of if you don’t laugh, you’ll cry. Burnham’s Inside performances walk the fine line between hysterical hilarity and hysterical delusion, to the point where you begin to question if Bo is genuinely filming his own cry for help. It’s a masterful and touching performance. His openness about the deterioration of his mental state acts like an open-armed gesture to his audience: one that allows us to admit that we, too, have been feeling… well…
Bo Burnham’s struggles with anxiety are no secret, the comedian comparing the debilitating mental health disorder to feeling like a “terrified thirteen-year-old”. Hell, he even wrote & directed a whole ‘nother movie about it. And while anxiety and other mental health disorders are uniquely individual in their effect, Burnham’s loosening grip on his sanity during the pandemic feels oh so relatable in Inside. Via songs that are equal parts emotionally touching and hilariously silly, we observe a person well and truly breaking down - and finding catharsis through the art he creates.
After a challenging couple of years in which mental health has been more important than ever to prioritise, we inherently understand that Burnham isn’t just some dude in front of a camera, alone in his room, but that he’s all of us. He’s struggling, persevering, and, ultimately, having a tear-stained chuckle at this oddball world we all found ourselves stuck within. And who among us can’t relate to that?
Explore more films about mental health - and dozens of other causes - at good.film. Feel free to share this article with a fellow movie-lover to help grow the community! The more people who find and share entertainment on good.film, the better Danny (our awesome algorithm) gets in identifying movies & TV shows that help everyone understand themselves, and the world, a little better.
