14 Movies About Depression That Perfectly Capture the Experience
More than 300 million people have depression, and each person has a unique story. It’s a mental health condition that manifests in a myriad of ways. It can make people feel lonely, detached, down or unmotivated, like there’s no point to anything. It can also spur them to act irrationally or destructively. We need movies about depression — among other works of art — to help us understand, humanize and sympathize with the many ways people experience depression.
If you’re interested in watching a movie featuring depression, it can be difficult to know where to start. There are hundreds of movies about depression, and thousands with strong themes of depression.
Rather than starting a subjective conversation about which movies are “best” in terms of the filmmaking (good writing, interesting characters, solid plot, etc.), we wanted to learn which ones would best enlighten you on the experience of depression. If you live with depression, you might identify with one or more of the characters in these films or they might provide your family and friends some insight into what you’re struggling with.
To narrow the list, we surveyed our network of more than 1,000 therapists and tracked which movies they recommended most frequently. These films focus on the nature of depression itself: what it is, how it develops, and how it affects both people who have it and those around them.
Below are the top picks for movies about depression, based on our criteria. We organized them by separating the hidden gems (relevant movies people don’t often recommend) from frequent recommendations.
| by Anonymous | reply 35 | December 8, 2018 1:49 PM
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The Days of Wine & Roses. Alcoholism + depression = death
| by Anonymous | reply 1 | December 7, 2018 1:04 AM
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BoJack Horseman, TV series on Netflix.
Best treatments of depression and dementia (two separate characters) ever.
| by Anonymous | reply 3 | December 7, 2018 1:23 AM
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This was just the uplifting thread I needed tonight, OP!
I'm glad to see that "Melancholia" is on the list, because that was the film that came instantly to mind.
| by Anonymous | reply 4 | December 7, 2018 1:26 AM
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Movies about depression, what would the world be without them?
| by Anonymous | reply 5 | December 7, 2018 1:27 AM
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If 300 million people (in the US or the world?) have depression then why are the only people I work with exuberant, extroverted assholes?
| by Anonymous | reply 6 | December 7, 2018 1:28 AM
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I love anomalisa! I didn't know it was about depression. Was a big David Thewlis fan.
| by Anonymous | reply 8 | December 7, 2018 1:41 AM
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The Bell Jar (1979), complete at link, in grainy, moody B/W with scratchy optical sound. Perfect! Music by Janis Ian.
| by Anonymous | reply 9 | December 7, 2018 1:42 AM
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They Shoot Horse, Don’t They?
| by Anonymous | reply 10 | December 7, 2018 1:58 AM
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^^^"Horses," plural
Weird: I read the title line first and thought "Movies about the Depression" meaning the 1929-1939 version, not the kind that leaves you moping around the house without getting dressed or taking a shower for three or four days.
And I would have said "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?", "Pennies From Heaven," "The Grapes of Wrath," and "Forty-Second Street."
Which all in their way did a pretty good job capturing aspects of the experience.
| by Anonymous | reply 11 | December 7, 2018 2:21 AM
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Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
| by Anonymous | reply 12 | December 7, 2018 2:25 AM
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I just finished Charline Theron’s SLEEPWALKING with Nick Stahl & Annasophia Robb, which touches on depression following abusive or neglectful upbringings. Stahl’s character James is a case study in depression at the beginning (friendless, anhedonic, non-communicative, numbly & silently working a dead end job for pennies) though arguably if he hadn’t been abused by his father he’d not have had it.
| by Anonymous | reply 13 | December 7, 2018 12:43 PM
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^^CharLIZE. Apologies to Ms. Theron.
| by Anonymous | reply 14 | December 7, 2018 12:44 PM
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The Prisoner Of Second Avenue with Jack lemmon and Anne Bancroft.
| by Anonymous | reply 17 | December 7, 2018 12:56 PM
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R11, I had the same instant misread. They Shoot Horses, Don’t They and Pennies from Heaven came to mind.
But in terms of clinical depression, I’d like to add a non-movie: the limited-run Netflix series Maniac. It goes from absurdist to madcap to tragedy, sometimes in the space of a single episode.
What holds it together for me is Emma Stone’s character. She has a breakthrough moment that comes unexpectedly and it feels very real, especially for someone like me who has tried to find solutions to deep depression without looking into the void and explicitly articulating how abysmal life had become.
| by Anonymous | reply 18 | December 7, 2018 1:03 PM
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I don't know about perfectly but i'll add
Thirteen
Country Strong
Christine
The Babadook
| by Anonymous | reply 21 | December 7, 2018 4:25 PM
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R21, "The Babadook" captured postpartum psychosis extremely well (with some degree of medical and artistic license, of course). I was surprised and disappointed by how many viewers did not understand the symbolism.
| by Anonymous | reply 23 | December 7, 2018 4:45 PM
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Everyone was pretty depressed in "On the Beach."
| by Anonymous | reply 25 | December 8, 2018 1:26 AM
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Men Don't Leave and Night Mother are two great choices.
But I disagree with They Shoot Horses and Pennies From Heaven. And dont get me wrong, they're two of my all-time favorites. They're both depressing movies that take place during The Depression, but unlike the movies on the list OP posted, they're not specifically ABOUT depression.
That's all.
| by Anonymous | reply 28 | December 8, 2018 8:42 AM
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A Charlie Brown Christmas perfectly captures the experience.
| by Anonymous | reply 29 | December 8, 2018 8:43 AM
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Cassavetess - OPENING NIGHT. Gena's character is depressed about aging and becoming "the older actress".
| by Anonymous | reply 30 | December 8, 2018 8:51 AM
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Disagree, r28. THEY SHOOT HORSES DON'T THEY had Jane Fonda portray crushing despair.
| by Anonymous | reply 31 | December 8, 2018 8:59 AM
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Melancholia is a great example. Most of the movies mentioned ARE depressive, but not really about depression. They are about people in shitty situations. But in Melancholia, Kirsten Dunst's character should be happy. She is pretty, she is getting married, she has great career. But her life is black hole of sadness. To the point when end of the fucking world seems like a happy end.
| by Anonymous | reply 32 | December 8, 2018 10:29 AM
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I second "Bojack Horseman", a tv show, I know... and "Melancholia."
| by Anonymous | reply 34 | December 8, 2018 1:29 PM
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R28, read r11 and r18 again.
You missed their point.
| by Anonymous | reply 35 | December 8, 2018 1:49 PM
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