Dialogues with madwomen

An exceptional documentary which challenges the myths, stereotypes and fears surrounding mental illness. The director herself was institutionalised for depression in the 1960s and in this film she conducts a dialogue with six other women who have all been diagnosed as mentally ill. Whether affected by schizophrenia, manic-depression or dissassociated identitities the women are all articulate and have all been able to reclaim a self-respect and self- determination that was initially denied to them by medical practitioners. This film does not claim to “solve” the riddle of madness: the women describe damage they suffered from doctors and hospitals but they also talk about the effectiveness of certain therapies and treatments. But what frustrated them all is the failure of institutionalised medicine to integrate their experiences of incest and abuse into their psychological models, or to understand the specific psychological traumas arising from racism and ethnic dislocation. The film uses symbolic imagery and dramatic re-enactments to represent the womens’ history, dreams and memories. “Dialogues with Madwomen”, by presenting the women’s own stories, tears away the heavy drapes of prejudice that dominate our thinking about mental illness.