25 Movie Characters Who Accurately Portray Mental Illness

Dec. 1, 2023, midnight

Movies

25 Movie Characters Who Accurately Portray Mental Illness

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Summary Cinema has a history of misrepresenting mental health, but there are accurate portrayals that can help educate and destigmatize.

Authentic depictions of mental illness in movies can provide relatable experiences for viewers and promote understanding.

Movie characters with mental health disorders can showcase struggles and everyday coping, offering a realistic portrayal.

The following article contains discussions of mental health conditions, violence, and suicide.

While the entertainment industry is notorious for misrepresenting many illnesses, conditions, and disorders, there are many movie characters who accurately portray mental health. Cinema has had a dubious history of portraying mental health in an authentic or even sensitive light. The perceived dramatic nature of a mental illness has notoriously meant it's too often conveyed as a means to broadcast sentimentality or sensationalism. Additionally, "madness" has been used by horror films as a justification for all kinds of unspeakable acts. However, Hollywood also occasionally gets it right, and there are plenty of movie characters with mental disorders that aren't portrayed problematically.

The exploration of mental illness and mental health disorders in movies has improved dramatically over the last few decades, with an emphasis on authenticity and care towards humanization. Depictions that are seen as genuine across myriad genres, from drama to comedy, allow viewers to learn about mental illness through accurate portrayals — perhaps even further cementing the need for understanding in the face of stigmatized thinking and improved mental health programs. These movie characters are shown through their struggles with mental health as well as how they deal with it on a day-to-day basis which could reflect a relatable depiction for many viewers.

Related 20 TV Characters Who Accurately Portray Mental Illness Mental illness is being discussed more and more on TV today. From Bojack Horseman to Jessica Jones, these are the most accurate portrayals.

Tony Stark - Iron Man 3 (2013)

Played By Robert Downey Jr.

A superhero movie would not generally be looked at for being an accurate look at mental illness, but just because the circumstances of the world are implausible doesn't mean that these depictions cannot be grounded in the real world. Iron Man 3 was the first MCU movie after The Avengers and it focuses on Tony Stark dealing with the aftermath of an alien attack on New York City which saw him nearly die in outer space.

He is also the most human of the Avengers, so it makes for an interesting exploration of him spiraling in his daily life.

While the movie focuses on Tony battling new enemies, he also has to deal with his post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of the previous movie. Tony is a very confident and self-assured character, but he is also the most human of the Avengers, so it makes for an interesting exploration of him spiraling in his daily life. He seeks comfort in the protection his suits provide but he experiences panic attacks when reminded of the events in New York which are shown in a real and powerful way.

Dani - Midsommar (2019)

Played By Florence Pugh

Midsommar Director Ari Aster Release Date July 3, 2019 Cast Julia Ragnarsson , Rebecka Johnston , Henrik Norlén , William Jackson Harper , Gunnel Fred , Anna Åström , will poulter , Archie Madekwe , Louise Peterhoff , Björn Andrésen , Isabelle Grill , Jack Reynor , Florence Pugh , Liv Mjönes Runtime 147 minutes

The so-called elevated horror movie genre has allowed for scary movies to tackle heavier subject matters. In some cases, these horror movies provide an allegory to real experiences, such as The Babadook being an exploration of depression through a monster story. However, Midsommar's Dani (Florence Pugh) is shown to be struggling with a very real panic disorder before the main horror really begins.

The movie finds Dani accompanying her boyfriend and his friends to a Swedish midsummer festival which turns into a far deadlier cult ceremony. However, Dani's entire journey is an attempt to escape the grief she feels over the recent death of her sister and parents. The scenes of Dani literally running from these feelings while losing control of her breathing reflect the real feelings people with panic disorders feel when they have an attack.

Barry Egan - Punch Drunk Love (2002)

Played By Adam Sandler

Punch-Drunk Love Director Paul Thomas Anderson Release Date November 1, 2002 Cast Robert Smigel , Mary Lynn Rajskub , Emily Watson , Adam Sandler , Luis Guzman , Philip Seymour Hoffman Runtime 95 minutes

Given Adam Sandler movies that came before Punch Drunk Love, it would have seemed unlikely he would deliver an accurate portrayal of a character with mental illness. However, in his collaboration with Paul Thomas Anderson, Sandler proved a lot of critics wrong with a powerful and effective performance as Barry Egan, a shy, frustrated, and lonely man who strikes up an unlikely romance with his sister's friend.

In many ways, Barry is a serious and grounded version of Sandler's more comedic and child-like roles. Barry has a form of social anxiety disorder, making it hard for him to interact with people and causing him to literally retreat from such situations. Barry's anxieties sometimes result in fits of anger and there are some hints that his upbringing in a household of several domineering sisters may have contributed to his anxiety.

Brandon - Shame (2011)

Played By Michael Fassbender

Shame Director Steve McQueen Release Date December 2, 2011 Cast Michael Fassbender , Carey Mulligan , Alex Manette , James Badge Dale , Nicole Beharie Runtime 101 minutes

In Shame, Michael Fassbender plays Brandon, an attractive and successful executive whose life is consumed by his sex addiction. It has him constantly going out in the hopes of meeting a stranger for sex, hiring prostitutes, looking at pornography, or going to underground sex clubs. This lifestyle is complicated by the arrival of his troubled sister (Carey Mulligan) who comes to stay with him.

While the movie never directly states it, both Brandon and his sister are hinted to be the victims of intense trauma in their youth, possibly the result of an abusive relationship. This is suggested to be the root cause of Brandon's addiction as it seems controlled by a mental illness as it can be a compulsive and destructive aspect of his life he cannot quit. This is reflected further in his sister who is prone to self-harm and reverts back to childhood at times.

Lee Chandler - Manchester By The Sea (2016)

Played By Casey Affleck

Manchester By the Sea Director Kenneth Lonergan Release Date November 18, 2016 Cast Casey Affleck , Kyle Chandler , Lucas Hedges , Michelle Williams Runtime 137minutes

Manchester by the Sea stars Casey Affleck in his Oscar-winning role as Lee Chandler. Lee lives a reclusive life in Massachusetts when he is called back to his old hometown when his brother dies in order to be the guardian of his teenage nephew. While back home, he is forced to confront the tragic incident of his past that led to the death of his three children.

Even before returning home, Lee's life is consumed by his deep depression as a result of his accident years earlier. He is withdrawn and antisocial, almost seeming pained by having to interact with people. He also has destructive tendencies, picking random fights when the depression becomes too much to bear. One of the most realistic aspects of the movie is that there is no miracle cure for him as Lee heartbreakingly admits to his nephew "I can't beat it" and accepts that he has to live with it.

Pat Solitano - Silver Linings Playbook (2012)

Played By Bradley Cooper

The Best Picture nominee Silver Linings Playbook is a unique romance story involving people with mental illness. When Pat Solitano (Bradley Cooper) nearly beats his wife's lover to death he's institutionalized, not thrown in jail. The courts recognized the act as an episode of bipolar mania, not as a crime of passion, and his long road to recovery begins. The story of Silver Linings Playbook starts upon his release when he loses his wife and moves back in with his parents.

Pat struggles with intense emotional swings and gets too worked up about trivial issues, but struggles to succeed because he's perceived as high-functioning. He spends most of the film in the "manic" portion of bipolar disorder, without much of the depressive state, but what viewers do see is very genuine — a man who can't see why no one is reacting to life the way he is.

Lisa Rowe - Girl, Interrupted (1999)

Played By Angelina Jolie

Though Winona Ryder's character was the protagonist of Girl, Interrupted, the suicide attempt that landed her in an all-female mental institution was the catalyst for more engrossing stories featuring her fellow patients. One of the most enigmatic patients she encountered was Lisa Rowe, played with volatile intensity by Angelina Jolie with a performance which earned her an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.

Lisa was a sociopath, characterized by a charismatic and manipulative nature she used to elicit close bonds from the patients around her. When she didn't get her way, Lisa's seductive personality turned incredibly abusive, showing a sociopath's lack of remorse even when she drove a fellow patient to suicide. It shows the unpredictability of such a character which can make her scary but not turned into the cartoonish villain as some movies have done.

John Forbes Nash, Jr. - A Beautiful Mind (2001)

Played By Russell Crowe

While there were concerns that a biographical drama about noted mathematician John Forbes Nash, Jr. (Russell Crowe) could evoke an exaggerated take on the mental illness that would tarnish his reputation, A Beautiful Mind doesn't do him a disservice. It instead chronicles his years of professional genius, his downward mental spiral, and his eventual recovery in a tasteful way that isn't romanticized.

Nash emerged victorious over the paranoid delusions brought on by his schizophrenia.

The public was gripped by the life of the Nobel Prize winner, who suddenly came to the horrific realization that many of the locations, events, and people that characterized his life never actually existed. Nash emerged victorious over the paranoid delusions brought on by his schizophrenia by acknowledging that though they were there, they would not rule his life. While some movies depict such hallucinations in an over-the-top way, Nash's felt terrifyingly plausible in his mind.

Charlie Kelmeckis - The Perks Of Being A Wallflower (2012)

Played By Logan Lerman

Based on the popular novel of the same name, the teen movie The Perks of Being a Wallflower focuses on a boy named Charlie Kelmeckis (Logan Lerman) who's just trying to get through his teenage years while dealing with the overwhelming PTSD and anxiety that comes with trauma. Among the movie's many strengths is Lerman's portrayal of Charlie's mental health issues, which are notably realistic according to many viewers.

This coming-of-age comedy-drama features many of the tropes of teenage films (partying, first love, big exams), but through the lens of a boy dealing with mental illness. His crushingly omnipresent sadness threatens to derail every social victory he attains for himself and will consume him if he doesn't find ways to maintain equilibrium despite innumerable triggers. While it is fun seeing him come out of his shell with supportive friends, there are also intense moments that show the darker side to Charlie's struggles.

Related 21 Amazing Movies That Actually Understand Mental Illness While cinema often portrays people with mental illness as murderous, there are films out there that show mentally illness a little differently.

Cam Stuart - Infinitely Polar Bear (2014)

Played By Mark Ruffalo

Infinitely Polar Bear Release Date January 19, 2015 Director Maya Forbes Runtime 90 minutes

Mark Ruffalo is at his mercurial best depicting Cam, a single father suffering from manic depression, unsure of how to take care of himself, let alone his two spirited daughters. His family's support has always kept him able to go through life without ever facing his mental illness, but after a severe manic episode hospitalizes him, he's forced to have a wake-up call.

His struggles are both real, relatable, and inspiring because of his mental illness.

Having lost much of their resources, his wife (Zoe Saldaña) attends Columbia University to get a better degree, and with it, a better job. Cam spends the 18 months of her master's program coming to terms with his bipolar diagnosis and raising their two daughters, showing the beautiful highs and sometimes tragic lows of his condition. His struggles are both real, relatable, and inspiring because of his mental illness, not despite it.

Riley - Inside Out (2015)

Played By Kaitlyn Dias

Inside Out Release Date June 19, 2015 Director Pete Docter Cast Lewis Black , Mindy Kaling , Phyllis Smith , Amy Poehler , Bill Hader , Richard Kind , Kaitlyn Dias Runtime 95 minutes

Pixar's animated movies are known to be fun family-friendly adventures that can also speak to bigger ideas than most children's movies do. With Inside Out, Pixar created a surprisingly sensitive and deft portrayal of a child suffering from anxiety and depression that was accessible to both children and adults. The film focuses on Riley (Kaitlyn Dias), a happy-go-lucky 11-year-old who becomes depressed when her parents move the family to San Francisco.

Joy has usually been the predominant emotion in Riley's life, but the move gives a voice to Sadness, who soon commandeers her personality. When Joy and Sadness get pulled to the furthest reaches of Riley's subconscious, Anger, Fear, and Disgust assume control. It's one of the best examinations of the role emotions play in human behavioral development in movies while also offering a great message about dealing with these feelings in a realistic way.

Raymond Babbitt - Rain Man (1988)

Played By Dustin Hoffman

Rain Man Release Date December 16, 1988 Director Barry Levinson Cast Dustin Hoffman , Tom Cruise , Valeria Golino , Bonnie Hunt

Autism has a spectrum spanning the most high-functioning and the most severe alterations to behavior, and the further along the spectrum, the greater the chance of sensationalism. There have been many movies that have taken cliched and incorrect approaches to depicting this. Luckily in Rain Man, this isn't the case, and the presentation of Raymond Babbitt's (Dustin Hoffman) autism is authentic and genuine.

He gets entrusted to his younger brother Charlie (Tom Cruise) after the death of their father and has no idea that Charlie is an opportunist using Raymond to get at their father's fortune. He initially copes with Raymond's outbursts for financial gain, not realizing that he's becoming the routine and stability that Raymond needs in his life. By the end of the film, the brothers grow to know a fraternal love unlike anything either has ever experienced.

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Craig Gilner - It's Kind Of A Funny Story (2010)

Played By Keir Gilchrist

It's Kind of a Funny Story Release Date October 8, 2010 Director Anna Boden , Ryan Fleck Cast Keir Gilchrist , Dana DeVestern , Lauren Graham , Jim Gaffigan , Karen Chilton , Zach Galifianakis

Sometimes it is some of the underseen movies that deserve recognition for how they deal with their depictions of mental illness. In It's Kind of a Funny Story, Craig is a depressed teenager who develops suicidal ideation and does the only thing he can think of in a particularly dark moment — checks himself into a mental health clinic to get access to some medication. Once there, he begins to have a different perspective.

Craig encounters patients in the facility with everything from autism to manic depression and beyond, and they're depicted in ways that aren't exaggerated, hypertrophied, or over-the-top. Craig still has his problems, but after five days of bonding, he realizes that they aren't so bad. After all, some people would give anything to be him for just a day, despite his problems.

Related 20 Most Inaccurate Movie Character Portrayals Of Mental Illness Portraying a specific mental illness can be a difficult thing to get right. Here are some of the most medically inaccurate portrayals in film history.

Roy Waller - Matchstick Men (2003)

Played By Nicolas Cage

Matchstick Men Release Date September 12, 2003 Director Ridley Scott Runtime 116 minutes

One of Nicolas Cage's best movies is also one of his most underrated with a gripping story and a brilliant performance. Cage plays Roy, a con artist with obsessive-compulsive disorder, audiences might expect him to bring some of his grandiose showboating to Matchstick Men. However, he portrays the mental illness with understated intensity, especially when it comes to bearing on his vocation and his relationship with his teenage daughter, Angela (Alison Lohman).

Angela yearns to be closer to her father, as well as gain an insider perspective into the world of the con, so she asks to join his next big scheme. While they get closer as they handle the family business, Roy has to understand that the methods he used to control his mental illness have to be adjusted to accommodate his new fatherly role.

Nathaniel Ayers - The Soloist (2009)

Played By Jamie Foxx

The Soloist Release Date April 24, 2009 Director Joe Wright Cast Jamie Foxx , Robert Downey Jr. , Catherine Keener , Tom Hollander , Lisa Gay Hamilton , Nelsan Ellis Runtime 105 minutes

When dealing with a true story about a real person who struggles with mental illness, it becomes all the more imperative that the movie pulls it off with accuracy as with The Soloist. The story of Nathaniel Ayers (Jamie Foxx) may seem singular enough to be featured as the premise of a movie, but his circumstances are far more common than viewers might think. He began as a gifted professional musician who suddenly finds himself homeless when he's plagued by the onset of schizophrenia.

Ayers is befriended by Steve (Robert Downey Jr.), a columnist who's searching for the story that will get his life back on track. Steve forms an unlikely friendship with Ayers, and together they bring awareness to not just mental illness, but society's response to it. Steve is not just seen as a savior for Ayers as it becomes clear this is a struggle he has deal with for years and it will not magically go away now that he has a friend.

Maggie & Milo Dean - The Skeleton Twins (2014)

Played By Kristen Wiig And Bill Hader

The Skeleton Twins Release Date June 5, 2014 Director Craig Johnson Cast Kristen Wiig , Bill Hader , Boyd Holbrook , Ty Burrell , Luke Wilson , Jennifer Lafleur Runtime 90 minutes

Though Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig worked together as two standout cast members on Saturday Night Live, their collaboration in The Skeleton Twins allows them to show their dramatic sides as well. When Milo (Bill Hader) attempts suicide, he reunites with his estranged twin sister Maggie (Kristen Wiig) in the hospital. Both suffering from severe depression and anxiety, they are forced to look at how their mental illnesses have shaped the course of their lives and affected the loved ones around them.

Accepting that depression will always be a part of their lives is the only way they can move forward healthily.

Aside from the usual cognitive behavioral therapy, they examine the romantic relationships in their lives to try to find areas of their unhappiness that they can alter. Maggie is married to a loving husband but is unhappy, and Milo has always wondered if his first love is the one who got away. Accepting that depression will always be a part of their lives is the only way they can move forward healthily.

Melvin Udall - As Good As It Gets (1997)

Played By Jack Nicholson

Jack Nicholson's character in As Good as It Gets (for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor), who wears gloves in public and won't step on cracks in the sidewalk, is so much more than an eccentric New Yorker who speaks his mind and doesn't care when people think of him. He plays Melvin Udall, a best-selling author diagnosed with OCD, who performs obsessive rituals to combat his intrusively anxious thoughts.

He attempts to control his condition for a chance at a relationship with a waitress (Helen Hunt) at his favorite diner, but he's rude, arrogant, and entitled. His misanthropic personality, which seems exempt from social graces, is comprised of inappropriate emotional responses and forces him to avoid social situations, which is accurately indicative of a number of personality disorders, including narcissistic personality disorder.

Alice Klieg - Welcome To Me (2014)

Played By Kristen Wiig

As funny as she is in comedic roles, Kristen Wiig has proven herself a gifted dramatic actor with more challenging roles such as the movie Welcome to Me. By fate or coincidence, when Alice Klieg (Kristen Wiig) decides to quit her medications cold turkey, she cashes in a winning lottery ticket. She impulsively purchases a talk show, where she's able to share her opinions with the world, while her borderline personality disorder creeps back into her life.

Alice has manic mood swings, and tumultuous relationships, which lead the people around her to view her as selfish. Though BPD is portrayed using humor in the movie, it accurately works to falsify the burgeoning myth that people with her condition are doomed to be self-destructive and self-involved. Through therapy and reassessment, she's able to take her mental health seriously.

Ellen - To The Bone (2017)

Played By Lily Collins

While there are a lot of mental illness that are regularly featured in movies and television shows, eating disorders don't tend to get the same attention as some other conditions. However, To the Bone is one effective and harrowing look at them. After spending her teenage years being herded through multiple recovery programs for her eating disorder, Ellen (Lily Collins) doesn't see much point in trying to escape her anorexia, especially since every time she begins a new therapy she ends up weighing less than she did before she started.

In a desperate attempt to save her, her family sends her to a group home, which specializes in mental health for young people. Once she settles into her new environment, she comes out of her shell thanks to a doctor (Keanu Reeves) with non-traditional and inclusive methods of approaching her mental illness. Ellen discovers ways to confront her deep-seated anxieties and embrace self-acceptance.

Joon Pearl - Benny & Joon (1993)

Played By Mary Stuart Masterson

Benny & Joon

There are a number of movies that accurately depict people with mental illness despite the stories being more focused on the people in their lives who try to help them and provide support. Benny (Aidan Quinn) and his sister Joon (Mary Stuart Masterson) live a fairly uneventful life until she stops taking her medication and her schizophrenia becomes unmanageable. Benny devotes himself to supporting her in those times so that she can live an isolated life far away from the jarring pace of the world.

Eventually, Benny invites Sam (Johnny Depp) into their household at his sister's request and watches her flourish interacting with the eccentric artist. Eventually, however, after Sam and Joon run away to start a sweeping romance, they realize that the stability Benny provided was necessary, and Joon's mental illness needs treatment, not just hopes and dreams.

Scott Carlin - The King Of Staten Island (2020)

Played By Pete Davidson

The King of Staten Island Release Date June 12, 2020 Director Judd Apatow Cast Bill Burr , Maude Apatow , Pauline Chalamet , Domenick Lombardozzi , Machine Gun Kelly , Moises Arias , Pamela Adlon , Kevin Corrigan , Carly Aquilino , Bel Powley , Pete Davidson , Jimmy Tatro , Adriana DeMeo , Steve Buscemi , Marisa Tomei Runtime 136 minutes

Based somewhat on Pete Davidson's life in the wake of losing his father, The King of Staten Island finds the comedian portraying Scott, a young man with a history of mental illness, trying to adjust to the death of his father (who lost his life serving as a firefighter during the September 11th attacks) who also suffered from the same. He can be socially combative, stuck in a state of arrested development where he still lives with his mother while seeing his younger sister move out, and occasionally giving into destructive behavior.

Scott's battle with depression, anxiety, and ADD are shown realistically in his issues around impulse control, executive dysfunction, and various neuroses. These are tackled through dark comedy and emotionally vulnerable drama by a compelling performance by Davidson, making the portrayal of mental illness particularly effective.

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Nina Sayers - Black Swan (2010)

Played By Natalie Portman

Black Swan Release Date December 3, 2010 Director Darren Aronofsky Cast Natalie Portman , Mila Kunis , Vincent Cassel , Barbara Hershey , Winona Ryder , Benjamin Millepied Runtime 108 minutes

In one of the most critically acclaimed performances of her career, Natalie Portman portrays Nina Sayers, a star ballerina in the midst of heavy competition for the lead role in the popular ballet Swan Lake. Fearing she will lose the part to a rival dancer, Nina undergoes a grueling training regiment, the result of which incites a terrifying metamorphosis.

The terrifying psychological thriller trappings of Black Swan might make it seem like a lurid take on mental illness, but the delusions and hallucinations build a truly realistic world for someone who actively suffers from schizophrenia. Far from a simple descent into madness, it is an accurate representation of an obsessive fugue state that is difficult to extricate from. Black Swan's ending leaves a lot up to interpretation and is ambiguous in many ways, but it hints at how far Nina's delusions have gotten.

Lars Lindstrom - Lars And The Real Girl (2007)

Played By Ryan Gosling

Lars and the Real Girl Release Date October 12, 2007 Director Craig Gillespie Cast Ryan Gosling , Emily Mortimer , Paul Schneider , R.D. Reid , Kelli Garner , Nancy Beatty Runtime 106 minutes

When shy Lars Lindstrom (a very against type Ryan Gosling) finally gets a girlfriend his family is overjoyed — until they find out it's a lifesize plastic blow-up doll. Rather than ostracize him, his community plays along with his delusion at the behest of his doctor, helping him come to terms with prior trauma while at the same time becoming more introspective and tolerant as a whole.

Despite what the premise might suggest, this is not an immature comedy but rather a moving and unique story. Many movies about mental illness focus on the problematic lifestyle of the character afflicted, with them adapting to a neurotypical worldview, rather than the people around them adapting to their neurodivergent perspective. In that respect, Lars and the Real Girl put a positive emphasis on Lars' way of life by exploring how much it has helped his community confront their own biases.

Bonnie, Arnie, Gilbert - What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993)

Played By Darlene Cates, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Johnny Depp

In the wake of a patriarch's absence, an entire family, the Grapes, begins to reveal signs of mental illness to varying degrees, exacerbated by poverty and declining circumstances. Bonnie suffers from severe depression and punishes herself by becoming morbidly obese, her youngest son — played by Leonardo DiCaprio in one of his earliest roles — contends with autism and ADHD, and her eldest son Gilbert (Johnny Depp) tries to hold his clan together while struggling with his own depression and anxiety.

What's Eating Gilbert Grape is about the importance of characters not only identifying their own mental illnesses but locating those around them who understand them as well. No solutions to the Grapes' problems are easy or applicable, and the movie handles the stigma about mental illness and obesity with raw integrity by acknowledging the necessity of strong familial bonds.

Arthur Fleck - Joker (2019)

Played By Joaquin Phoenix

Joker Release Date Director Cast Runtime

Even if Joker didn't tangentially connect its main character to the DC Universe, its investigation of what might lead to the origins of a "psychopathic clown" would be thought-provoking in the context of a callous society. Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix in an Oscar-winning role) isn't given a formal diagnosis in the movie but appears to suffer from extreme social anxiety, narcissism, and a lack of empathy.

"The worst part of having a mental illness is that people expect you to behave as if you don't."

Phoenix accurately and painfully shows the indignities suffered by Arthur for daring to exist with his conditions in a world that refuses to accommodate them. The loneliness, negative thoughts, and perpetual isolation will be immediately recognizable for anyone with a mental illness, as will the words, "The worst part of having a mental illness is that people expect you to behave as if you don't." It will be interesting to see if that accuracy is maintained in the upcoming sequel Joker: Folie à Deux.