Top Ten Foreign Language Psychodramas
Jun 17 '04 (Updated Nov 10 '05)
The Bottom Line "Psychodrama" is something of an imprecise category. I've taken a narrow perspective on its meaning. Here's my list of the Top Ten psychodramas in a foreign language.
What makes a film a psychodrama? In my opinion, the film has to be one that deals with psychological struggles in one or more of the principal protagonists. Furthermore, the psychic problem must be something more, in magnitude or kind, than what is routinely experienced by ordinary people. One or more of the adult characters, I would argue, must have a psychiatric or neurological issue of diagnosable proportions – whether or not it has been actually diagnosed. Furthermore, the film must examine the issue in a manner that lends itself to psychological analysis by the viewer. Since this is an Epinions list, I am also letting myself be somewhat influenced by which films show up from a search of the Epinions database using the keywords “psychodrama” and “foreign.” I exclude the following kinds of films.
Exclusions:
(1) Mere angst, ennui, and ordinary stresses and struggles are not sufficient. Films like La Dolce Vita and L’Avventura that relate to the boredom of the indolent rich are dramas, but not psychodramas by my criteria.
(2) Struggles with religious or metaphysical issues are not necessarily psychodrama. I do not, for example, include either The Seventh Seal or Wings of Desire as a psychodrama.
(3) I also exclude for purposes of this category “Coming of Age” films (see my list Coming-of-age – Outside the USA!). Though they typically deal with psychological aspects of maturation, their appeal derives in large measure from the very fact that the issues addressed are ones that most of us experienced at that age in some degree.
(4) Similarly, films featuring pre-adolescent developmental issues are excluded. I don’t believe that a film like Ma Vie en Rose qualifies as psychodrama, dealing as it does with gender confusion in a young boy. On the other hand, Under the Domim Tree comes very close to qualifying as psychodrama despite dealing with children and adolescents, because the problems portrayed for some of the characters are extreme and the product of Holocaust trauma and/or loss of family.
(5) Midlife adjustments (e.g., 8 ½) and adjustments to old age (normal grieving, acceptance of death, etc.) are also routine developmental issues and do not alone make a film psychodrama. Hence, I exclude films like Children of Nature and Madame Rosa.
(6) The mere presence of an evil or morally bankrupt character does not by itself qualify the film as psychodrama. General hatred, jealousy, waging war, murder, racism, sexism, or classism do not alone make a film psychodrama. Otherwise, the category would be enormous and perhaps even include a majority of films.
So, with that in mind, here’s my Top Ten Foreign Language Psychodramas. Don’t be surprised to see the master of psychodrama, Ingmar Bergman, well represented.
#10. Tokyo Decadence (1993) Japan.
This is frankly a pornographic film as viewers will discover immediately in the film’s opening segment. It does also explore psychological issues both in the principal protagonist and in her clients but as little more than a reason for steamy explicit sex. A prostitute named Ali caters to customers seeking sado-masochistic relations but dreams of rescue from her degrading profession. Don’t watch this film if you object to depictions of sex that are explicit and sometimes degenerate.
#9. Red Desert (1964) Italy.
The protagonist, Guiliana, feels disconnected and depressed. She feels that nobody understands her feelings. Certainly not her husband. She feels detached from their small circle of acquaintances. Her despair is deepened by having to reside in a natural environment that has been all but fully destroyed by pollution. Guiliana has already had one nervous breakdown following a car accident. Red Desert follows Guiliana’s efforts to cope with her depression and loss of contact with reality while painting one of the grimmest pictures ever of destruction of nature by human activities.
#8. The Assault (1986) The Netherlands.
I’m going with Epinions on this one. They list it as psychodrama though I’m not sure it really qualifies. The story of this film is set in Holland in the waning days of Nazi occupation. A young boy’s family is slaughtered by the Nazis as retaliation for the killing of a Nazi collaborator whose body is found in front of their house, though the unfortunate family had nothing to do with the killing. In fact, the collaborator was killed further down the street and the body moved by neighbors who realized that the nearest family was doomed to execution. The boy becomes a man and gradually uncovers details about precisely what transpired on the fateful evening when he lost his family. This film was an Oscar winner in the Best Foreign Film category.
#7. Cries and Whispers (1973) Sweden.
This morbid but stylistically superlative film portrays the difficulties of dealing with dying. Two sisters and a maidservant are sharing a death vigil for a third sister. The emotional stress triggered by the sister's impending death and the return to the country mansion where the three grew up together reveals deep psychological problems in each of the “healthy” sisters. This film features award winning cinematography and three great performances.
#6. The Terrorist (1998) India.
A nineteen year-old, female soldier named Malli is part of an unspecified resistance movement somewhere in India that uses terrorist tactics. She has already killed repeatedly, with neither hesitation nor remorse. Now, she is hand-picked for a special suicide mission that will result in the assassination of a national leader. Two developments begin to shake her commitment to the cause: her conversations with a philosophic old man and the discovery that she is pregnant, and thus responsible for another life besides her own.
#5. Wild Strawberries (1957) Sweden.
The elderly Swedish former-professor, Isak Borg, has retired after having practiced medicine successfully for over 50 years. On the night before he is scheduled to receive an honorary degree for his distinguished career, he has a troubling and disorienting dream. In the morning, Isak decides he will travel to the college by car so that he can stop along the way to visit his mother and a favorite place of his childhood, hoping to put to rest the anxiety stimulated by his dream. His daughter-in-law, Marianne, asks if she may join him, setting the stage for an intense reflection on Isak’s past and present problems – with his parents, his son, his deceased wife, and an old love.
#4. Contempt (1963) French.
The film opens with Paul Javel (Michel Piccoli) and his wife, Camille (Brigitte Bardot), enjoying some quiet, playful time in bed in the morning. Like many men, Paul worries about paying the bills, including those associated with the couple’s new apartment. Paul is torn about whether to accept an offer for a relatively lucrative opportunity to rewrite the script for a film because it will further compromise his artistic ambitions. Paul meets with the crass American film producer. At the end of the meeting, he permits Camille to ride with the producer in his flashy red Alfa-Romeo and, since it only has room for two, Paul must follow in a taxi. This simple event become the catalyst that destroys their marriage. Camille feels that Paul has left her vulnerable to the predatory producer, in effect pimping her out to advance his career. The centerpiece of the film is a classic nonstop marital dispute that takes place back in their apartment. What makes this film special is the extraordinary psychological realism with which the quarreling is presented.
#3. Sundays and Cybele (1962) French.
A former fighter pilot suffers amnesia from the emotional and/or physical trauma of his war experience and a crash landing. Disoriented by his lack of identity, he wanders through life aimlessly, under the care of his girlfriend/nurse, until he meets a young girl named Cybele who is similarly disoriented after being abandoned by her father at an orphanage. The relationship that develops between the two, though asexual, is abnormally romantic for a pair separated physically (though not mentally) by a huge gap in ages. Though these two lost souls badly need one another, the society in which they live will not abide such a peculiar relationship.
#2. Through a Glass Darkly (1961) Sweden.
The focal point of the story is Karin, who has just been released from a mental institution where she received shock therapy for schizophrenia. She is in temporary remission but her condition is incurable and relapse inevitable. This film follows Karin’s descent into psychosis and the effect of her deterioration on the three men closest to her, her husband Martin, her father David, and her seventeen-year-old brother Minus. Harriet Andersson’s performance as Karin is one of the best renditions of psychosis ever committed to film.
#1. Persona (1966) Sweden.
Alma (Bibi Andersson) is the nurse who has been put in charge of the care of Elisabet Volger (Liv Ullmann), a well-known stage actress who inexplicably stopped talking while on stage playing Electra. The psychiatrist sees no good reason to keep Elisabet hospitalized longer and suggests that she and Alma spend the summer at the psychiatrist’s remote seaside cottage. Alma’s sense of identity begins to be overwhelmed by her close interaction with the more psychologically powerful Elisabet and the two become locked in a dual of personalities. This film features intense facial close-ups and two great performances.
Other films that Epinions lists as foreign psychodrama that are probably worth checking out:
La Bête Humaine (1938) French
Peppermint Frappe (1967) Spanish
Woyzeck (1978) German
The Double Life of Veronique (1991) Polish
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You may also enjoy my other genre lists for non-English language films:
Ten Excellent Spanish-Language Films
Ten More Excellent Spanish-Language Films
Coming-of-age – Outside the USA!
Top Ten Non-English Language Political Movies
My Top Ten Non-English Language Tragedies
Top Non-English Language Comedies
Top-Ten Non-English Language Film Biographies
Top-Ten Non-English Language Action/Adventure Films
Top-Ten Non-English Language Mystery Films
Top-Ten Non-English Language ~Horror~ Films
Top-Ten English-Language ~Horror~ Films from Outside the USA
Ten Excellent Films Featuring Royalty
Ten Excellent Non-English Language Thrillers
Ten Non-English Language High-Yield Tearjerkers
Ten Best Non-English Language War Movies!!
Ten Excellent Non-English Language Senior Films
Top-Ten Non-English Language Films Featuring Classical Music
The Top Non-English Language Epics
The 10 Best Foreign Language Romance Movies!!
The Ten Best Non-English Language Love Story Movies!!
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