Here’s a list of 11 movies that would be fun for anyone to watch, especially psych majors who want to exercise their knowledge of the mind… and the many twists it has.
Fight Club
Everything about Fight Club is open to psychological interpretation, it also has a ton of metaphors, and an amazing plot twist. What more could you want?
Silence of the Lambs
One of the three movies that won all five major Academy Awards, if you’re interested in personality disorders, specifically the idea of psychopathy, you’re in for a treat with this ’90s classic. You’ll definitely be mulling over the definition of psychopathy when the movie comes to an end.
Inception
Action, suspense, and Leonardo DiCaprio playing a debatable character… truly, a cinematic masterpiece.
American Psycho
It’s American Psycho. What more could we say?
One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest
The second film to win all five major Academy Awards, One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest provides a disturbing look into mental hospitals in the late 1900s and while giving us a glimpse of various unsuccessful treatments and therapies.
Black Swan
Follow the tale of a talented ballerina slowly losing her grip on reality. Psychoanalyze her and the relationships she develops with people in the process.
Girl, Interrupted
Girl, Interrupted is an adaptation of the best-selling memoir by Susanna Kaysen, retelling her experiences in a psychiatric hospital after being diagnosed with borderline personality disorder.
Shutter Island
Leonardo DiCaprio (yes, again), only this time he’s at an asylum for the criminally insane as a U.S Marshal. A simple investigation takes a sinister turn, as he discovers the truth behind the island, and himself.
Gone Girl
Everything about the marriage of Nick and Amy Dunne can be questioned, especially when Amy goes missing. Though the movie could have played with suspense a bit more, it is a must-see film for prospective psychologists.
A Clockwork Orange
Another classic. Psychiatrists have said that the main character Alex “represents man in his natural state, the unconscious mind” who is experiencing “the neurosis imposed by society.” Aside from psychiatry, this movie comments on youth gangs and politics in a dystopian Britain.
Zodiac
The movie is pretty long, but it’s definitely worth it. Zodiac is incredible in the way that it captures the frustration of the investigators and the reporters as they try to profile the infamous Zodiac killer and bring him to justice. The case of the Zodiac killer is a fascinating film, not only because of the genius ways he/she toys with the authorities, but because to this day the case still remains unsolved.