Psychological films are undoubtedly an exciting but tough movie, a large part of the fascination of which was created by studying the psychological characteristics of the main characters. The best examples of the genre are based on stories in which there is everything: skeletons in each cabinet, pianos behind each bush, and the characters have their own cockroaches in their heads. The list of the best psychological films is quite extensive, as for those presented in this publication, it includes the most popular film projects created in the three most intriguing genres: drama, detective story, thriller.
Like a skein of tangled threads
The best psychological films are shot by the authors in the predominant majority at the junction of two or more movie genres, for example, the following films are classified as “detective / thriller”:
“Double castling (2002). Unfortunately, the Hollywood remake of “The Departed” from most viewers supplanted the masterpiece of the Hong Kong film industry Alan Mack and Andrew Lau. The main characters of “Castling” - a criminal, rooted in the police and law enforcer, rooted in the drug cartel. One day, fate brings them together, involving in the hunt for "moles" - for themselves.
Also to the best psychological films-detectives-thrillers is Christopher Nolan's most original work “Remember” (2000). The main character of the picture is a man who after a serious injury lost the ability to store long-term memories. He is able to remember to the smallest detail everything that happened before the injury, but his memory does not record further events. This feature does not stop the hero in search of the culprit of his condition and the death of his beloved wife. He creates a system of mental "clues" so as not to get confused. But is she really needed? That is the question.
Nooks of the soul
The best psychological films with meaning in their genre affiliation range between a thriller and a drama. For example, the film “Lollipop” (2005), which is a real gem in the track record of director David Slade. The plot of this chamber, but extremely tense picture, contains two main characters - a minor model who put sleeping pills to the photographer and the man himself, who woke up tied to a chair and accused of pedophilia, rape and murder. He is trying to prove his innocence, but which of the heroes is telling the truth, the viewer will find out only in the finale, as well as the moral of the tape.
Before becoming famous with “Bunker”, the German director Oliver Hirschbigel created the movie “Experiment” (2001).
The picture is based on the infamous Stanford prison experiment. Its essence was to divide the participants into two groups - “prisoners” and “guards”. Despite the fact that initially all participants were mentally healthy and belonged to the same social category, in a few days they reproduced all the most cruel unwritten prison orders.
Unusual dramatic thrillers
The best psychological films should certainly include one of the strongest directorial debuts in the history of the world film industry, the film “Reservoir Dogs” (1992). Quentin Tarantino learned the basics of the profession in the process of creating his first masterpiece. In the center of the story is a gang of criminals, after an unsuccessful attempt to rob a bank, they try to find out who betrayed them and turned them over to the police.
A wonderful mix of psychological thriller with the black comedy of the Cohen brothers “Fargo” (1996) tells the story of a car dealer from the province who organized the abduction of his wife to get a ransom from a wealthy but mean father-in-law. But since he lacked experience and criminal talent in general, the plan fails in the most epic way.
In 2010, Darren Aronofsky made the most unexpected project among genre hits - the psychological thriller about the ballet Black Swan (2010). The main character is a professional ballerina, a closed and trapped girl. The choreographer is sure that she is able to perfectly perform the role of the White Swan, but the frank and passionate party of the Black Swan is beyond her power. Trying to free herself for the embodiment of both sides of the character, the girl practically loses her mind with all the ensuing consequences. When listing psychological films with meaning, this exciting picture should definitely be included in the list of the best.
Cult masterpieces
Perhaps the best project of Luc Besson's “Leon” (1994) belongs to the golden fund of world cinema. The film is about an Italian killer, who has not really psychologically grown since he mastered the profession of an assassin and refused to communicate with people, will not leave indifferent even the most inveterate cynic. Fate brings Leon to a 12-year-old girl, whom he saves by raiding bandits who kill her entire family. While the baby is making plans for revenge, an adult man cannot understand what to do with a determined child. The picture has no happy end, this is its meaning and value.
The psychological thriller of Jonathan Demmey “Silence of the Lambs” (1991) continues the list of best films. A young FBI trainee girl must be trusted with a cannibal maniac so that he makes a psychological portrait and leads the investigation to another, while he is committing atrocities on the freedom of the killer. D. Demmy's project is not the first film about Hannibal Lecter, but it was this amazing, impeccably created project that made Lecter one of the most charismatic, creepy, but charming villains in the history of the world film industry.
Detective, drama, thriller in one bottle
The best psychological films are rarely ranked as the work of the genius Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa's "Paradise and Hell" (1963). This is because this work is somewhat weaker than the wonderful paintings “Ran (Troubles)” and “Seven Samurai”, but in its genre it is an unusually successful painting. The film introduces an influential businessman trying to gain control of the corporation and ensure that the brand that has been building up over the years will not be discredited by the co-owners. At this moment, a man is kidnapped by a son and demand a huge amount of ransom. Watching his offspring play nearby, the businessman thinks he was played. But it turns out that the criminals mistakenly abducted his driver’s son. The main character faces a choice - to save someone else's child or the work of his whole life.
The most erotic film among the best psychological detective films is still considered the work of the Dutchman Paul Verhoeven “Basic Instinct”. The director managed not to lose psychologism in the cinema among the scenes of "nudity." The central character is a police detective investigating a sexual assassination. The mistress of the deceased falls into the field of suspicion. But the further he plunges into the investigation, the more he becomes convinced that such an intelligent woman couldn’t be so stupid to substitute.
Not made in Hollywood
The Argentine film industry is virtually unknown, although it gives rise to beautiful productions. Such is the film Juan José Campanelli “The Secret in His Eyes” (2009). The plot tells of a police hunt for a rapist and a maniac killer at a time when special services used criminal elements to crack down on objectionable and dissenting people.
The most powerful project in the history of South Korean cinema is considered the work of Park Chan Uka "Oldboy" (2003). At the center of the story is a man serving a prison sentence of 15 years without trial or sentence. Throughout this period of time, he supported himself with thoughts of revenge and reprisal against those who threw him in jail. The hero decides to escape, but once outside the boundaries of his dungeon, he realizes that the long imprisonment was only the beginning of sophisticated bullying.
The picture of Michael Haneke “Hidden” (2005) has been awarded many international awards, so it must be on the list of the best psychological films. The movie tells the story of a hero whom an attacker is trying in every possible way to infuriate by sending him a video of his family and terrifying drawings. Since the letters do not contain direct threats, the police are not able to help the man, and he begins to get to the truth on his own, recalling his long past.
Crashing into memory
The grim work of David Fincher's "Seven" (1995) is based on an investigation by the protagonists of the atrocities of a serial killer, positioning his murder as a punishment for mortal biblical sins. Two policemen pretend to be hunters, not noticing how they become the object of close attention from the villain, his new game, which the murderer perfectly manipulates.
The viewer of the Francis Ford Coppola project titled “Conversation” (1974) is little known to the domestic audience. Although fans of the genre should be strongly recommended for viewing, because the tape perfectly depicts the paranoid state of a person who knows that US intelligence agencies are watching most of the Americans. The wiretap specialist is trying to independently decipher the conversation recorded by him, since he is tormented by its ambiguous content with a hint of a possible murder.
Animated thriller
Who said that the best psychological films should be exclusively feature films? Probably the one who was not lucky enough to see the animation project of the Japanese animator Satoshi Kon "True sadness." The master of hand-drawn cinema for adults with his debut work made the whole world talk about his original talent. In the cartoon, we are talking about a young pop star who decides to leave teenage music, wanting to become a serious dramatic actress. But her fans regard this step as a betrayal. At the same time, people around her at the hands of an ominous maniac began to die. The heroine herself practically does not distinguish reality from illusions, therefore she suspects that she herself committed all the killings.
Melodrama thriller
Honestly, you can’t be sure until the end that Alfred Hitchcock’s masterpiece “Vertigo” (1958), after its prescription, still deserves a place in the list of the most successful thrillers. Although this amazing canvas about the cunning psychological game that criminals play with a private detective suffering from fear of heights, bouts of dizziness and guilt does not cease to amaze and surprise. Perhaps, in comparison with modern genre examples, the picture may seem too slow, but this is an insignificant tribute for the chance to join one of the most influential, famous and significant films in the history of the world film industry.
Dramatic action movie and thriller at the same time
“Professional” (1981) is a brilliant production of Georges Lautner with divine musical accompaniment by Ennio Morricone. The unsurpassed master Jean-Paul Belmondo delightfully played the French special agent who escaped from a foreign prison and returned to his homeland. He finds out that he was betrayed by the immediate supervisors of the operation. As a true professional, the hero declares that he intends to fulfill the once assigned task - the assassination of the objectionable France to the African leader. But the situation has changed and now the politician is honored by the French authorities, so they declare a hunt for their agent.