Scenes From a Marriage (1973), La Strada (1954), Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966), The Burning Bed (1984), Custody (2017), Nil by Mouth (1997), Dogtooth (2009), This Boy's Life (1993) ... Let's take a look at the ranked list of the best Emotional Abuse movies.
Storyline: Following 2 characters, Marianne and Johan, the film, in typical Bergman East-European style, examines ontological questions of love, loneliness, being and what it means to be 'fulfilled'. As with all of Betgman's films, 'Scenes From a Marriage', is not simply a narrative about a married couple and their 'ups and downs'. Bergman, successfully probes into what it means and feels like to need the love and/or security, validation of another person and the consequences of life-changing decisions. It is a must-see, from the greatest film maker there has ever been.
Plot Keywords: marriage, relationships, divorce, emotions, couple, conflict, dialogue ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Sad story of a waif, Gelsomina, who is sold by her mother to Zampano for 10,000 lire and a few kilos of food. Zampano is a traveling showman who exhibits feats of strength by breaking a chain wrapped around his chest. He performs in village squares and then passes the hat for whatever the normally small crowd is prepared to give. He teaches Gelsomina a drum roll as part of his introduction. He doesn't treat her well and when she tries to run away, he beats her. They eventually join a small traveling circus where they meet a tight-rope walker who convinces Gelsomina to question her choices.
Plot Keywords: drama, romance, tragedy, italian cinema, circus, underclass, loneliness ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: George and Martha are a middle aged married couple, whose charged relationship is defined by vitriolic verbal battles, which underlies what seems like an emotional dependence upon each other. This verbal abuse is fueled by an excessive consumption of alcohol. George being an associate History professor in a New Carthage university where Martha's father is the President adds an extra dimension to their relationship. Late one Saturday evening after a faculty mixer, Martha invites Nick and Honey, an ambitious young Biology professor new to the university and his mousy wife, over for a nightcap. As the evening progresses, Nick and Honey, plied with more alcohol, get caught up in George and Martha's games of needing to hurt each other and everyone around them. The ultimate abuse comes in the form of talk of George and Martha's unseen sixteen year old son, whose birthday is the following day.
Plot Keywords: alcoholism, emotional manipulation, social pressure, stage adaptation, black comedy, psychological drama, family secrets ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Francine Hughes (Farrah Fawcett) suffers the abuse of her husband, Mickey (Paul Le Mat), for almost a decade because she cannot find any help. When a drunken Mickey rapes her and then passes out, Francine pours gasoline over him and lights it on fire. In the ensuing blaze, Mickey dies and the house burns down. During Francine's trial, she testifies about her years of suffering, and her attorney, Aryon Greydanus (Richard Masur), tries to have her declared temporarily insane and acquitted.
Plot Keywords: domestic violence, women's rights, based on true story, courtroom drama, social issues, female empowerment, tv movie ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Antoine Besson, Miriam's divorced husband, is a nice man. In charge of security in a hospital, he is esteemed both by his superiors and his fellow colleagues. Moreover he is a good father who, willing to be closer to his eleven-year-old son Julien, has chosen to be transferred to the town where the boy lives with his mother and his older sister Joséphine, soon to be of age. That is the very reason why Antoine, the caring father, is asking for joint custody of Julien. Well, all that would be fine provided Antoine actually was the man he claims to be. The trouble is that his wife and his two children see him in a very different light. For in the past, Antoine was far from an angel. On the contrary, he had a knack for creating an atmosphere of permanent fear at home, going as far as to occasionally beat his wife under his children's eyes. And he got away with it all the more easily as Miriam, wishing to avoid even more problems, never lodged a complaint against him - a fact that eventually turns against her. Which is why, despite the fact that Julien does not want to see his father any more, the family court judge complies with Antoine's request.—Guy Bellinger
Plot Keywords: legal drama, tension, emotional conflict, domestic violence, psychological pressure, social issues, french film ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: The family of Raymond, his wife Val and her brother Billy live in working-class London district. Also in their family is Val and Billy's mother Janet and grandmother Kath. Billy is a drug addict and Raymond kicks him out of the house, making him live on his own. Raymond is generally a rough and even violent person, and that leads to problems in the life of the family.—Gustaf Molin <gustaf.molin@usa.net>
Plot Keywords: domestic violence, underclass, alcoholism, drug abuse, working class, psychological trauma, social marginalization ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Three teenagers are confined to an isolated country estate that could very well be on another planet. The trio spend their days listening to endless homemade tapes that teach them a whole new vocabulary. Any word that comes from beyond their family abode is instantly assigned a new meaning. Hence 'the sea' refers to a large armchair and 'zombies' are little yellow flowers. Having invented a brother whom they claim to have ostracized for his disobedience, the über-controlling parents terrorize their offspring into submission. The father is the only family member who can leave the manicured lawns of their self-inflicted exile, earning their keep by managing a nearby factory, while the only outsider allowed on the premises is his colleague Christina, who is paid to relieve the son of his male urges. Tired of these dutiful acts of carnality, Christina disturbs the domestic balance.
Plot Keywords: psychological thriller, family, disturbing, social experiment, violence, brainwashing, control ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: In 1957, a son and mother flee the East and an abusive boyfriend to find a new life, and end up in Seattle, where the mother meets a polite garage mechanic. The boy continually gets into trouble by hanging out with the wrong crowd. The mom marries the mechanic, but they soon find out that he's an abusive and unreasoning alcoholic, and they struggle to maintain hope in an impossible situation as the boy grows up with plans to escape the small town by any means possible. Based on a true story by Tobias Wolff.
Plot Keywords: coming of age, family, abuse, stepfather, rebellion, mother-son relationship, 1950s ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Andrew Crocker-Harris (Albert Finney) is an embittered and disliked teacher of Greek and Latin at a British public school. After nearly twenty years of service, he is being forced to retire on the pretext of his health, and perhaps may not even be given a pension. The boys regard him as a Hitler, with some justification. His wife Laura (Greta Scacchi) is unfaithful, and lives to wound him any way she can. Andrew must come to terms with his failed life and regain at least his own self-respect.—Reid Gagle
Plot Keywords: education, teacher-student relationship, marital crisis, repression, midlife crisis, self-redemption, betrayal ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Two junior executives on a six-week business trip, both of whom have been recently hurt by women, devise a horrible plan to get even with women for their past hurts: They intend to find, romance, and then dump a vulnerable woman. They choose Christine, and for a while all goes according to plan. However, it soon becomes clear that things are not as simple as they think.
Plot Keywords: drama, black comedy, workplace, male perspective, psychological manipulation, revenge, power struggle ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Abandoning artistic ambitions, sensitive and club-footed Philip Carey enrolls in medical school and falls in love with a waitress Mildred Rogers. She rejects him, runs off with a salesman and returns unmarried and pregnant. Philip gets her an apartment and they become engaged. Mildred runs off with another medical student. Philip takes her back again when she returns with her baby. She wrecks his apartment and burns the securities he needs to pay tuition. He gets a job as a salesman, has surgery on his foot, receives an inheritance, and returns to school where he learns Mildred is dying.—Ed Stephan <stephan@cc.wwu.edu>
Plot Keywords: classic film, black and white, drama, romance, literary adaptation, 1930s, golden age of hollywood ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: A family of three, comprised of a husband, wife and a young daughter, lead a routine and unspectacular life. The stillness is shattered occasionally by the young girl's practice on the harmonium and more unusually by the arrival of an acquaintance of the man. Apparently seeking to repay a debt and make up for lost time the new arrival is soon both a guest at the family home and an employee of their workshop. All hell breaks loose and no one is chaste.—aghaemi
Plot Keywords: drama, thriller, family, crime, mystery, psychological, human nature ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: A seven-year-old girl adopts a vow of silence in protest when her quarrelsome parents grow increasingly hostile to one another.
Plot Keywords: psychological thriller, australian film, domestic violence, psychological manipulation, suspense, drama, independent film ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: One dark summer night, Francesca Cunningham, a once world famed pianist, escapes from her hospital room and tries to commit suicide by jumping off a local bridge. She is rescued and taken back to the hospital and undergoes psychological treatment by Dr. Larsen. Larsen, desperately wants to know the events and persons who drove her to this state and help her. He makes Francesca talk about her past - a past with a controlling guardian, Nicholas, no friends, kept apart from the man she loved and forced to practice the piano 5-6 hours a day.—Kelly
Plot Keywords: psychological thriller, film noir, drama, romance, musician, piano, trauma ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: The relationship between Christina Crawford and her adoptive mother Joan Crawford is presented from Christina's view. Unable to bear children, Joan, in 1940, was denied children through regular adoption agencies due to her twice divorced status and being a single working person. Her lover at the time, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer lawyer Greg Savitt, was able to go through a brokerage to adopt a baby girl, who would be Christina, the first of Joan's four adoptive children. Joan believes that her own difficult upbringing has made her a stronger person, and decides that, while providing the comforts that a successful Hollywood actress can afford, she will not coddle Christina or her other children, she treating Christina more as a competitor than a daughter. Joan's treatment of Christina is often passive-aggressive, fueled both by the highs and lows of her career, the narcissism that goes along with being an actress, and alcohol abuse especially during the low times. However, Joan sees much of ...
Plot Keywords: biography, drama, psychological thriller, hollywood, celebrity, abuse, mother-daughter relationship ...
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