With the recent release of the film Shrink, starring Kevin Spacey as a troubled psychiatrist, a number of people have told me it reminded them of a Commentary I did for NPR's "All Things Considered" some years back. It concerned the villainous depiction of male therapists on TV and film.
For those who didn't hear it, or would like to hear it again, here's the link:
Feel free to weigh in on the subject, if the spirit moves you.
2 comments:
I believe Spacey's character in Shrink was a psychologist, not a psychiatrist. He was flawed, and his substance abuse was a big mistake, but understandable give the loss of his wife to suicide, much like the psychoanalyst in The Son's Room. Films have portrayed many other male psychiatrists and/or psychotherapists in a positive way: Ordinary People (my favorite), The Snake Pit, An Angel at My Table, and Don Juan de Marco.
Female psychiatrists have not been perfect, either: boundary violations in Prince of Tides and Mr. Jones.
I remember that Warren Beatty and James Toback tried to make a movie about a messed-up shrink, but Toback would/could never finish a draft and Beatty gave up.
The Spacey movie must have been in limited release -- it didn't play up here. I'll look for it on Netflix.
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