“We all go a little mad sometimes.” Truer words were never spoken, the infamous phrase coming from the inimitable Norman Bates inPsycho(see below).
Madness is a tricky thing to portray for an actor. Put too much into it, and you’ll be accused of histrionics, but too little isn’t a good look either. Even just taking on the role of someone in the throes of insanity can look like you’re trying too hard to get noticed at awards season.
But some actors have hit the sweet spot, with nuanced portrayals of characters grappling on the brink, or outrageous portraits of characters who crossed that line a long time ago. These 15 film performances lift the veil, taking a terrible peek into the minds of truly tortured characters.
Brad Pittreceived critical acclaim and multiple award nominations (including a Golden Globe win for Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture) for his role in Terry Gilliam’s 1995 sci-fi hit, based on the seminal 1962 short filmLa Jetée. He plays wild-eyed, fast-talking Jeffrey Goines, who meets Bruce Willis’ James Cole in a mental institution in 1990; Cole has been chosen to travel back in time from 2035 to curtail a deadly virus that plagues the present, but he’s been accidentally sent back to the wrong year.
Goines expresses his radical environmentalist views to Cole, and Cole encounters him again when he is sent into the future, when he learns that Goines is the founder of the eco-terrorist Army of the Twelve Monkeys, and may be responsible for the spread of the apocalyptic virus.
14Psycho (1960) - Anthony Perkins
Anthony Perkins, of course, played that quintessential madman and mama’s boy inPsycho, Norman Bates, proprietor of the Bates Motel. When on-the-run secretary Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) finds her way there after stealing from her workplace, the meek Norman is friendly yet shy, bowing under the weight of his overbearing mother. But things take a turn when Marion is stabbed to death in that most famous of shower scenes, apparently by Norman’s psychotic mother.
Marion’s concerned sister Lila (Vera Miles), lover Sam (John Gavin), and an investigator named Arbogast (Martin Balsam) all arrive in quick succession to find her, and after more violence, the truth comes out: Norman killed his mother and her lover a decade earlier, and has not only developed a second persona as the vicious Mother Bates, but he keeps her mummified body and dresses as her when he commits murder.
10 Movies That Were Inspired By Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho
Few films have had an impact as profound and enduring as Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho. Here are 10 movies influenced by the 1960 masterpiece.
13Betty Blue (37°2 le matin) (1986) - Béatrice Dalle
ActressBéatrice Dalleburst onto the international film scene with her bravura performance in this 1986 film about a beautiful, vibrant young woman named Betty and her lover Zorg (Jean-Hugues Anglade), a wannabe writer. She’s a prototype of the manic pixie dream girl, with heavy emphasis on the manic. At first, it seems to Zorg that Betty is acting out of wild and free impulse, and their relationship is so passionate that he lets most of it slide.
But Betty’s outbursts progress from risky, high-spirited hijinks to actual violence perpetrated against herself and others, and Zorg can no longer deny that something is seriously wrong. Finally, he’s faced with a tragic decision: should he let Betty waste away in an institution or end her suffering another way?
12One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975) - Various
There are so many great depictions of madness in this award-winning film based on the Ken Kesey novel. Standouts includeBrad Dourifas nervous, stammering Billy Bibbit, Danny DeVIto as childish Martini, and Christopher Lloyd as furious Max Taber. Jack Nicholson’s McMurphy (who has feigned mental illness to avoid the more punitive measures he would normally receive for statutory rape) realizes the curious fact that most of the men have committed themselves voluntarily, and it is not solely madness keeping them at the institution, but fear of the outside world. McMurphy’s presence transforms the men’s lives in different ways: some get swept up in the spirit of rebellion and learn to overcome their fears, but tragedy awaits others.
11Pi (1998) - Sean Gulette
Darren Aronofsky’s quirky, nerve-jangling, groundbreaking thriller starredSean Guletteas Max Cohen, a number theorist and a loner suffering from a range of mental illnesses, from paranoia to schizoid personality disorder. He becomes obsessed with a seemingly random 216-digit number his computer came up with while he tried to get it to make stock predictions. After a meeting with a Hasidic Jew, Max becomes obsessed with the numerology of the Torah. But the deeper Max gets to understanding the universe through mathematics, the deeper he plunges into madness, and the jittery black-and-white film takes the audience on the journey right along with him.
10Take Shelter (2011) - Michael Shannon
Michael Shannonis wrenching as Curtis LaForche, a Midwestern father of a deaf daughter and husband to Samantha (Jessica Chastain). Curtis is plagued by nightmarish fears of harm befalling his family, and his paranoia compels him to begin building a storm shelter in their backyard. The task begins to consume him, as he retreats from family and friends and resorting to ever-riskier means to get the shelter finished. It’s revealed that Curtis’ mother suffers from schizophrenia, which his malady increasingly resembles as his fears of a coming storm grow out of control with no proof to back them up. It’s a dreadful paradox, as he alienates those closest to them at the same time that he is trying so desperately to save them.
The Best Michael Shannon Movies, Ranked
Michael Shannon is a charismatic and always exceptional actor who has crafted an illustrious resume on both the big and small screen over his career.
9Aguirre the Wrath of God (1972) - Klaus Kinski
The line between fiction and reality was often blurred on the set of Werner Herzog’s 1972 historical epic, as the role of Aguirre, a Spanish conquistador spiraling into madness,was played by Kinski, who was subject to violent rages that often disrupted filming. Aguirre is second-in-command on an Andes expedition, taking a group of 40 men and several women (one of whom is his own daughter) on a dangerous trek downriver through the jungle. The men on a raft caught in an eddy are left for dead before a mutiny led by Aguirre breaks out, and the expedition’s survivors are in constant fear of his bloodthirsty whims.
8American Psycho (2000) - Christian Bale
Christian Baleis famouslychilling as Patrick Bateman, a slick, disciplined investment banker with incredibly particular views on social standing, decor, and business card design. He also has a penchant for disturbing violence, torture, and murder. He loathes his colleagues and acquaintances, including his own fiancée, Evelyn (Reese Witherspoon), and his only real joy seems to be in their killing and dismemberment (and certain banal facets of pop culture).
After killing a colleague named Paul Allen, Patrick becomes a suspect in his disappearance, and his mental state rapidly becomes unhinged. His killings become ever more depraved, but at the same time, he is increasingly unsure whether he’s committing these acts at all, or if it’s all in his mind.
7A Beautiful Mind (2001) - Russell Crowe
In this biopic,Russell Croweportrays John Nash, a genius mathematician who is hired away from an increasingly boring life in academia at MIT by the US Department of Defense to work on cryptography. The secrecy of the project, combined with the obsessiveness required to find the requisite patterns, tip Nash over into paranoia.
He meets and marries a student, Alicia (Jennifer Connelly), but family life cannot save him from the encroaching effects of schizophrenia, which give him hallucinations of Soviet agents on his trail, among other things. Shock therapy and antipsychotics are given, but disliking the side effects, and Nash ends up relapsing. It’s a happy ending, though, as Nash finds a way back into teaching, eventually winning the Nobel Prize for Economics.
6The Ruling Class (1972) - Peter O’Toole
This black comedy is a dark but less serious take on madness, with O’Toole hamming it up as a paranoid, schizophrenic nobleman. Jack, the 14th Earl of Gurney, believes that he is Jesus Christ, but he also sings, dances, and sleeps on a cross, all of which is very embarrassing for his image-conscious family.
A plan is afoot among the family to marry him off and have him produce an heir before having him committed, but the plan backfires when, after the first two steps have been carried out, Jack emerges from electroshock therapy believing that he is no longer Jesus, but Jack the Ripper. O’Toole was nominated for an Academy Award, clearly relishing his role as the titled blond madman.
