WATCH the film: Available on home video for purchase and rental online and through local video stores.
DISCUSS the film: After you watch the film, return here to join in the discussion at the bottom of this page.
REVIEW by Julie: In all honesty, this film was very hard for me to watch as it touched on quite a few of my obsessional thinking topics such as alcoholism and child abuse. The over-the-top presentation and nature of the film made quite an impact on me and left me with a sick feeling in my stomach hoping I never have to watch the film again.
Having said all this it is clear that Joan Crawford had many more demons than just OCD. Films like this makes those of us with OCD seem paranoid and very crazy. While there are some instances where we act over the top, most of us just struggle to get through the day and conform to the standards of rules and "normalcy." Of course the trait that is most associated with OCD is hand washing and when you picture this as an over the top behavior you can picture the character of Joan Crawford in this film. From the daily face scrubbing to the obsession with wire hangers, this is a portrait of a person who seemingly has lost all her grip on reality.
Numerous scenes in the movie depict Joan Crawford as an manically obsessed woman. Obsessed with her public image (staging a family Christmas for a radio interview), obsessed with her living space (berating a maid for forgetting to clean under a planter), obsessed with being the best. She uses bullying tactics to try and control all the people around her, her lovers, her staff, and her children. What we are left with after this film is the feeling that we have watched a horror movie more than a film about OCD. The portrayal of Crawford as someone struggling wit multiple mental disorders is not one I will soon forget, and I don't mean that in a good way.
DISCUSS the film (in comments section below):
- Is Joan Crawford's OCD too over the top to be believable in this film?
- What view of OCD does this "horror film" give the public?
- If you grew up as the child of someone with OCD, how does this portrayal compare to your own experience?
- Since Joan Crawford, like Howard Hughes, lived before effective OCD treatments had been developed, what do you think her experience, and her daughter's experience, would have been if she were living now?
Oh dear. I've always hoped that Joan Crawford's daughter was overstating, but I suspect not. I think blaming her behavior on her "issues" is maybe being too kind, if such a thing is possible. Maybe she was just mean.
ReplyDeleteUgh! A HORRIBLE movie about a HORRIBLE person. So why would anyone want to watch it? It shows us how misunderstood OCD was, both by the mother with OCD and the daughter, in "the old days" actually not so long ago -- OCD research and treatment have come a long way in the past few decades. Both Howard Hughes (see The Aviator in this film festival) and Joan Crawford would likely have have had a much better lives had they lived today. Effective behavioral treatment began to be developed in the 1970s and medications are now available and both continue to improve. Even if she had gotten effective treatment for OCD, though, Joan Crawford still might have been a horrible, mean, stingy, abusive person. What I find so unfair about this movie, and the reason I hope people do NOT watch it, is that it confuses the person's OCD with the person's personality. By far most of the people with OCD that I've known have been wonderful, kind, loving people.
ReplyDeleteCurious. I'm writing a paper for a final project in a cult film class and never once did I ever consider this an "OCD" film. I always thought it was about child abuse from an alcoholic mother (something that reflects my childhood) and just noted "oh and she's 'OCD' too".
ReplyDeleteIts interesting how we see the world through our own personal lens????