Seven women, including the filmmaker, describe their experiences with manic depression, multiple personalities, schizophrenia, euphoria and recovery. Academy Award winner Allie Light creates... Read allSeven women, including the filmmaker, describe their experiences with manic depression, multiple personalities, schizophrenia, euphoria and recovery. Academy Award winner Allie Light creates dream-like reenactments to capture the revelations of women who have witnessed the dark s... Read allSeven women, including the filmmaker, describe their experiences with manic depression, multiple personalities, schizophrenia, euphoria and recovery. Academy Award winner Allie Light creates dream-like reenactments to capture the revelations of women who have witnessed the dark side of the imagination.
- Awards
- 3 wins & 1 nomination
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Storyline
Allie Light's 1994 film, Dialogues with Madwomen, depicts the horrifying, intriguing, and terrifying minds of mental ill women. Light interviewed seven different women, including herself, about their battle with manic depression, multiple personalities, schizophrenia, and other mental disorders. These women candidly spoke about the darkness, rage, and confusion that they experienced. These women described in their interviews how they were physically, mentally, and sexually abused all of their lives and how very few people tried to help or understand, leaving them even more isolated and alone with their depressed and dangerous thoughts.
I believe that Little's documentary was effective and heart-wrenching because of the stories about the different mental illnesses were told by real women, who have been struggling and were currently struggling with these various diseases. The firsthand accounts created a very organic and candid vibe about the interviews. The film did not describe the illnesses with facts. But the film gave the women an outlet to just talk about exactly what they were feeling and thinking, which in the end gave the most accurate description of the illness.
By watching the film, one was able to have a better understanding the relationship that these women had with their illness and could try to understand what each women had to undergo. For example, Susan's, who grew up with a lot of sexual abuse and an unstable mother and family, story was probably the most powerful, especially when she was explaining that the only way she could escape the anger and pain was to sit in a dark corner and "slice herself up" I also found when Mairi, who developed 25 different personalities, said that she used her personalities as a coping mechanism for all the pain and abuse she had to endure. All of the women's stories were raw and hardcore and would pull on a person's heartstrings. The stories open each viewers mind. A person who is watching this film will realize the horrible sexist nature of our society, want to hug every women in the film, and learn more in order to change our society's prejudice and treatment against mentally ill.
In my opinion, I felt that by including herself as one of the seven women being interviewed, Allie Light was able to convey to her audience that by having a mental illness does not been women and people in general are too troubled to be successful in life. Light is a talented and award-wining director. She fought to get an education and pursued what she loved to do, even though her doctors felt that the best form of treatment was to be a stay at home mom and serve her husband. Although Light struggled with depression, she was able to overcome, accept, and control it. I found that the way Light portrayed herself in the documentary was also very effective because she made herself seem like any other women being interviewed and only found out at the end that she was actually the director. By putting herself on the same level as the other women, she was able to show to her audience that she was equal to the other women and if she can become successful so can anyone else who is suffering from some kind of mental illness.
Finally, I found that even though these women were still struggling with their illnesses, some more than others, they all have come to a place of understanding and acceptance of their symptoms. It showed that women do not have to be considered outcasts and worthless if their mind functions differently than the rest of the world. The film also showed the strength and bravery of these women, which helps breaks the normal stereotype that women are weak and have no voice. Light was able to create a documentary that gave seven women an outlet to express themselves freely with no judgment, while at the same time creating hope that one day that mental illness does not have to be seen so harshly.
Overall, if someone is interested in learning about seven incredible women's lives, then this film is for them. The documentary carries the audience through a series of emotions; one second they want to cry, another they want to be disgusted, and finally they have just a little bit of relief and hope. Light provides a unique opportunity to learn about these illnesses from direct sources and see how they affect the daily lives of these women. I personally found that Allie Light's film, Dialogues with Madwomen, to be an informative, emotional, and powerful testimony to the horrors of mental illness in women. I feel that the film can be a very useful teaching tool by providing students, and society in general, with a better an understanding on how mental illness is developed and how it effects a person.
- shhef001
- Nov 19, 2013
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- Also known as
- 狂気を語る女たち
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Box office
- Gross US & Canada
- $77,789
- Runtime1 hour 35 minutes