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Best Psychiatrist Movies

Ranked by how strongly each film carries the visual signature of psychiatrist cinema — measured across 2,123 indexed frames from 28 films, against a 408,752-frame catalogue baseline. Not by box office, and not by vote.

Psychiatrist films over-index on telephone, blazer and desk — the objects that make the genre recognisable before a line is spoken.

  1. 1

    Dressed to Kill (1980)

    Brian De PalmaDP Ralf D. BodeIMDb 7.0TMDB 7.0See in full on FrameThrower →

    While taking a shower, Kate Miller, a middle-aged, sexually frustrated New York City housewife, has a rape fantasy while her husband stands at the sink shaving. Later that day, after complaining to her psychiatrist Dr. Robert Elliott about her husband's pathetic performance in bed, she meets a strange man at a museum and returns to his apartment where they continue an adulterous encounter that began in the taxicab. Before she leaves his apartment, she finds papers which certify that the man has a venereal disease. Panicked, Kate rushes into the elevator, but has to return to his apartment when she realizes she's forgotten her wedding ring. When the elevator doors open, she's brutally slashed to death by a tall blonde woman wearing dark sunglasses. Liz Blake, a high-class call girl, is the only witness to the murder and she becomes the prime suspect and the murderer's next target. Liz is rescued from being killed by Kate's son Peter, who enlists the help of Liz to catch his mother's killer as Detective Marino, who's in charge of the case, is uncooperative in the investigation.

  2. 2

    The Howling (1981)

    Joe DanteDP John HoraIMDb 6.5TMDB 6.6See in full on FrameThrower →

    In a red light district, newswoman Karen White is bugged by the police, investigating serial killer Eddie Quist, who has been molesting her through phone calls. After police officers find them in a peep-show cabin and shoot Eddie, Karen becomes emotionally disturbed and loses her memory. Hoping to conquer her inner demons, she heads for the Colony, a secluded retreat where the creepy residents are rather too eager to make her feel at home. There also seems to be a bizarre connection between Eddie Quist and this supposedly safe haven. And when, after nights of being tormented by unearthly cries, Karen ventures into the forest and makes a terrifying discovery.

  3. 3

    Rain Man (1988)

    Barry LevinsonDP John SealeIMDb 8.0TMDB 7.8See in full on FrameThrower →

    Charles Sanford "Charlie" Babbit is a self-centered Los Angeles-based automobile dealer/hustler/bookie who is at war with his own life. Charlie, as a young teenager, used his father's 1949 Buick convertible without permission and as a result, he went to jail for two days on account that his father reported it stolen. It is then that Charlie learns that his estranged father died and left him from his last will and testament a huge bed of roses and the car while the remainder will of $3 Million goes into a trust fund to be distributed to someone. Charlie seemed pretty angry by this and decides to look into this matter. It seems as if that "someone" is Raymond, Charlie's unknown brother, an autistic savant who lives in a world of his own, resides at the Walbrook Institute. Charlie then kidnaps Raymond and decides to take him on a lust for life trip to the west coast as a threat to get the $3 Million inheritance. Raymond's acts and nagging, including repeated talks of "Abbott & Costello", "Four minutes till Wapner" and refusal to fly on an airline except Qantas drives Charlie insane... and out of his selfish world into a cross-country trek of pure love and understanding that these two both have.

  4. 4

    Spellbound (1945)

    Alfred HitchcockDP George BarnesIMDb 7.5TMDB 7.4See in full on FrameThrower →

    When Dr. Anthony Edwardes arrives at a Vermont mental hospital to replace the outgoing hospital director, Dr. Constance Peterson, a psychoanalyst, discovers Edwardes is actually an impostor. The man confesses that the real Dr. Edwardes is dead and fears he may have killed him, but cannot recall anything. Dr. Peterson, however is convinced his impostor is innocent of the man's murder, and joins him on a quest to unravel his amnesia through psychoanalysis.

  5. 5

    Swallow (2020)

    Carlo Mirabella-DavisDP Katelin ArizmendiIMDb 6.5TMDB 6.6See in full on FrameThrower →

    Against the backdrop of insufferable domestic ennui, the soft-spoken former saleswoman and newlywed housewife, Hunter, is struggling to stretch the bars of her gilded cage, a lavish and immaculate modernist villa in New York, even though she seems to have it all. But, more and more, as sad Hunter tries, unsuccessfully, to meet her controlling family's expectations, compliance turns into submission, obedience transforms into obsession, and pica, a compulsive eating disorder, starts to take over. Now, swallowing non-nutritive objects and engaging in increasingly impossible tasks becomes Hunter's dangerous newfound addiction, and there's no telling how far she'll go to maintain a false and fleeting sense of power. Who can save Hunter from herself?

  6. 6

    Stay (2005)

    Marc ForsterDP Roberto SchaeferIMDb 6.7TMDB 6.6See in full on FrameThrower →

    Psychiatrist Sam Foster has a new patient, Henry Letham, who claims to be suicidal. In trying to diagnose him, Sam visits Henry's prior therapist and also finds Henry's mother -- even though Henry has said that he murdered both of his parents. As reality starts to contradict fact, Sam spirals into an unstable mental state. Then he finds a clue as to how and when Henry may try to kill himself, and races to try to stop him.

  7. 7

    Side Effects (2013)

    Steven SoderberghDP Steven SoderberghIMDb 7.1TMDB 6.6See in full on FrameThrower →

    Despite being reunited with her husband from prison, Emily Taylor becomes severely depressed with emotional episodes and suicide attempts. After conferring with her previous doctor, her psychiatrist, Jonathan Banks, eventually prescribes an experimental new medication called Ablixa, but the drug's side-effects lead to Emily killing her husband while in a "sleepwalking" state. With Emily plea-bargained into mental-hospital confinement and Dr. Banks' practice crumbling around him, the case seems closed. However, Dr. Banks cannot accept full responsibility and investigates to clear his name. What follows is a dark quest that threatens to tear apart what's left of his life even as he discovers the diabolical truth of this tragedy.

  8. 8

    Don't Say a Word (2001)

    Gary FlederDP Amir MokriIMDb 6.3TMDB 6.3See in full on FrameThrower →

    A group of thieves steal a rare gem, but in the process, two of the men double cross the leader of the thieving group, Patrick, and take off with the precious stone. Ten years later, prominent psychiatrist Nathan Conrad is invited to examine a disturbed young woman named Elisabeth. Patrick immediately kidnaps Nathan's daughter, forcing Nathan to attempt to get Elisabeth to reveal a secret number which will ultimately lead Patrick to the whereabouts of the precious gem that has eluded him.

  9. 9

    The Voices (2014)

    Marjane SatrapiDP Maxime AlexandreIMDb 6.3TMDB 6.2See in full on FrameThrower →

    Jerry (Ryan Reynolds) is that chipper guy clocking the 9-to-5 at a bathtub factory, with the offbeat charm of anyone who could use a few friends. With help from his court-appointed psychiatrist, he pursues his office crush (Gemma Arterton), but their relationship takes a sudden murderous turn after she stands him up for a date. Guided by his evil talking cat and benevolent talking dog, Jerry must decide whether to keep striving for normalcy or indulge in the sinister.

  10. 10

    Society (1989)

    Brian YuznaDP Rick FichterIMDb 6.5TMDB 6.7See in full on FrameThrower →

    Bill is worried that he is 'different' to his sister and parents. They mix with other 'upper class' people while Bill is more down to earth. Even his girlfriend seems a bit odd. All is revealed when Bill returns home to find a party in full swing. Not for the weak of stomach.

What psychiatrist films are made of

How much more often each element appears in a psychiatrist frame than in an average frame from the catalogue. A ratio, not a share — telephone is not in most frames, it is simply far more common here than anywhere else.

  • telephone2.8×
  • blazer1.8×
  • desk1.7×
  • mirror1.7×
  • skin1.6×
  • tie1.6×
  • table lamp1.6×
  • eyes1.5×

How psychiatrist films are shot

Weaker signals than the objects above, and worth saying so: most dramatic genres skew dark and night-heavy, so these numbers separate psychiatrist from the catalogue far more than they separate it from its neighbours.

  • 15%high keyvs 12% baseline
  • 84%eye levelvs 69% baseline

What breaks the pattern

Hector and the Search for Happiness (2014) is the least typical film here — it carries the least of what the rest of this list is made of. Which is either a failure of the genre label, or the most interesting film on the page.

Method

Every frame in the FrameThrower catalogue is tagged for shot size, lighting, time of day, camera angle, colour and the objects visible in it. This page aggregates those tags across 2,123 frames from 28 films carrying the psychiatrist label, and compares each figure to the same measurement across the whole catalogue (408,752 frames). Films are ranked by how closely they match the theme’s over-indexed elements, weighted by how distinctive each element is; one film per series. Only films with at least 20 indexed frames and 500 TMDB votes are listed.

Machine-readable: /api/list/psychiatrist

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These are real movie frames, shown at reduced resolution. All rights remain with their respective owners; they appear here for study, commentary and education under fair-use principles. How these are meant to be used