Do you use films as therapy?

[saucycobblers]

By that I mean have you had certain films that you've watched obsessively at different points in your life to help you through bad times (or good times!)? For me it's:

'Saturday Night Fever' - sticking two fingers up to others' expectations and really striking out on my own for the first time.

'Distant voices, Still Lives' - coming to terms with my relationship with my Dad.

'Bridges of Madison County' - marriage troubles a-brewin'!

'Brokeback Mountain' - my present obsession, helping me to negotiate a relationship not unlike Jack and Ennis's.

Anyone else got any?

[vkm91941]

You bet I do!    In fact there is also a psychologist who wrote two books on the subject, Dr Gary Solomon calls himself a cinematherapist

The Motion Picture Prescription: Watch This Movie and Call Me in the Morning   and Reel Therapy: How Movies Inspire You to Overcome Life's Problems

Who needs a therapist's couch when you can sit in the comfort of your living room and watch the movies  to help you deal with all of life's emotional problems.  Just look at Brokeback Mountain talk about a therapeutic journey to the heart of cinema's healing powers.

[slayers_creek_oth]

Hell yes I do!  I have several comfort films....movies that I watch when I am tense or stressed - they always seem to calm me down. 

Pretty Woman - as cheesy as it sounds is a comfort film for me...it honestly helps me relax if that makes any sense...

Jerry MaGuire - is another film that I love and makes me feel calm and at ease...helps me relieve stress

Shawshank Redemption - my all time favorite movie and it reminds me of my mom...which may be why its therapeutic for me...

[ednbarby]

Cool topic, Saucy!

Here are the ones I use:

Laugh Therapy:

1.) Clueless
2.) Office Space
3.) Raising Arizona
4.) The Princess Bride
5.) This is Spinal Tap
6.) Best in Show
7.) Napolean Dynamite
8.) Rushmore
9.) Monty Python and the Holy Grail


Cry Therapy:

1.) Brokeback Mountain


Masterpiece Therapy (when I just need to be reminded of all the things a great movie can do):

1.) Brokeback Mountain
2.) Fargo
3.) The Shawshank Redemption
4.) The Wedding Banquet
5.) Casablanca
6.) Quiz Show
7.) High Noon
8.) Crimes and Misdemeanors
9.) Manhattan
10.) Harvey

[saucycobblers]

OMG, I LOVE 'Office Space' - that scene with the photocopier - LMAO!!! And that poor bloke who ends up in the office basement - awwww...

Chuckle therapy for me would be:

Some Like It Hot
Monty Python's Life of Brian
Billy Liar
This Is Spinal Tap
Bringing Up Baby
The Odd Couple

The most life-affirming movie - surprise, surprise...

The Shawshank Redemption

[vkm91941]

OK I'll make  a stab at it but there are so many!   

To make me Smile When I’m Blue

Strictly Ballroom
A Christmas Story
Finding Nemo
Jersey Girl
The Bishops Wife
Shirley Valentine
Secondhand Lions
Mrs Doubtfire


When I’m Feeling Romantic

A Walk in the Clouds
The Princess Bride
Anna and The King
Pride & Prejudice (1995)
You’ve Got Mail
The Sum of Us
Brokeback Mountain
Latter Days

When I want to cry

Brokeback Mountain
To Kill a Mockingbird
Dead Poet’s Society
My Dog Skip
Old Yeller
Truly, Madly Deeply
Gods and Monsters


When I want Something Priceless   
1.To Kill a Mockingbird
2. Brokeback Mountain
3. Billy Elliott
4. Dead Poet's Society
5. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (the orginal w/Gene Wilder)
6. Silence of the Lambs
7. The Birds
8. Strictly Ballroom
9. Shawshank Redemption
10. First Star Wars Trilogy
11. Lord of the Rings Trilogy
12. Truly, Madly, Deeply
13. Mulan
14. Lady and the Tramp
15. Driving Miss Daisy
16. Phantom of the Opera
17. Beauty and the Beast
18. A Home at the End of the World
19. The Green Mile
20. The Childrens Hour
21. The Mission
22. Street Car Named Desire
23. The Uninvited (1944)
24. The Haunting (1963)
25. The Innocents
26. All This and Heaven Too
27. The Joy Luck Club
28. Road to Perdition
29. Master and Commander
30. Rosemary's Baby
31. Mrs Miniver
32. Little Women (1994)
33. Pride & Prejudice (1995)
34. Searching for Bobby Fisher
35. Auntie Mame (1958)
36. Beloved Infidel
37. The Rainmaker (1956)
38. The Unforgiven (1960)
39. Long Days Journey into Night(1962)
40. The Lion in Winter
41. The Glass Menagerie (1973)
42. A Moon for the Misbegotten (1975)
43. Belle et la bête, La (1946)
44. The Color Purple
45. Million Dollar Baby
46. Sense and Sensibility
47. Gods and Monsters
48. Good Will Hunting
49. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
50. Little Man Tate
51. You've Got Mail
52. Roxanne
53. Prelude to A Kiss
54. Watership Down
55. Benny and Joon
56. Some Kind of Wonderful
57. The Breakfast Club
58. The Trip to Bountiful
59. Proof
60. Erin Brockavich
61. Singing in the Rain
62. Rosemary's Baby
63. Secretary
64. The Sixth Sense
65. The Village
66. Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
67. Shall We Dance (Japanese Version)
68. Awakenings
69. Good Will Hunting
70. Girl Interupted
71. Men Don't Leave
72. The Sum of Us
73. Places in the Heart
74. Mrs Doubtfire
75. Howards End
76. The Remains of the Day
77. A Room with a View
78. Secondhand Lions
79. Maurice
80. Shirley Valentine
81. Gone with the Wind
82. What Ever Happened to Baby Jane
83. Gaslight
84. Cape Fear
85. Regarding Henry
86. What Lies Beneath
87. Anna and The King
88. The Quiet Man
89. The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
90. Silverado
91. It's a Wonderful Life
92. The Bishops Wife
93. The Princess Bride
94. Heaven Knows Mr. Allison
95. Washington Square
96. The Apartment
97. Finding Nemo
98. Forrest Gump
99. Monty Pythons History of the World
100. A Christmas Story

[isabelle]

Hi Nicky!
The few that spring to mind are:

For laugh therapy:
Monty Python's "Life Of Brian"
Ernst Lubitsch's "To be or not to be" and "Ninotchka", but then everything by Lubitsch will do.

To cure my resurging cynicism:
"Casablanca"

To cure my "What's the point" mood:
Ken Loach's "Land and Freedom"

To reassure myself I'm not the only one, when I think I am crazy:
Anything by Almodovar (don't know the English titles to his films)

For some unknown reason:
James Ivory's "A room with a view"

And anytime, to remind me I ought to be true to myself:Brokeback Mountainof course

[MaineWriter]

Good thread!

When I want to feel young and silly again, and have a good laugh, anything teenage, but I particularly like:

Ferris Bueller's Day Off
Adventures in Babysitting
Sixteen Candles
Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure
Fast Times at Ridgemont High

When I am in the mood for some escapist fun, I like:

Speed
The Fugitive

When I want to feel romantic:

Strictly Ballroom
Monsoon Wedding
Titanic (don't kill me people, I like that movie!!)

When I want a plain old good laugh:

A Mighty Wind
Best in Show
Napoleon Dynamite
Monty Python & The Holy Grail
---> also, old Monty Python from the TV show
Airplane!
Animal House

When I am in a swooning mood, I watch certain actors:

Dennis Quaid: The Big Easy and Breaking Away, in particular
Robert Redford: Butch Cassidy, The Electric Horseman (but not that oldie with Barbra Streisand, I hate that movie!)
Heath Legder: BBM (of course), A Knight's Tale and now, Casanova

And last, just because I love to watch it: Sunset Boulevard

Leslie

[isabelle]

Hey Leslie, I like "Titanic" too!

[MaineWriter]

Hey Leslie, I like "Titanic" too!

Thanks for that vote of confidence, Isabelle. There are some folks, though, you say the "T" word and ....