Girl, Interrupted (1999)

Based on writer Susanna Kaysen's account of her 18-month stay at a mental hospital in the late 1960s.

Awakenings (1990)

The victims of an encephalitis epidemic many years ago have been catatonic ever since, but now a new drug offers the prospect of reviving them.

It's Kind of a Funny Story (2010)

A clinically depressed teenager gets a new start after he checks himself into an adult psychiatric ward.

Stonehearst Asylum (2014)

An Oxford graduate takes up a job in a mental asylum, only to discover that the "revolutionary" new treatments are inhumane, and that there is more going on than meets the eye.

Stay (2005)

This movie focuses on the attempts of a psychiatrist to prevent one of his patients from committing suicide while trying to maintain his own grip on reality.

The Intouchables (2011)

After he becomes a quadriplegic from a paragliding accident, an aristocrat hires a young man from the projects to be his caregiver.

This is not a film that will change the whole world, but one that just might charm it.

The Deer Hunter (1978)

An in-depth examination of the ways in which the U.S. Vietnam War impacts and disrupts the lives of people in a small industrial town in Pennsylvania.

Persona (1966)

A nurse is put in charge of a mute actress and finds that their personae are melding together.

Dallas Buyers Club (2013)

In 1985 Dallas, electrician and hustler Ron Woodroof works around the system to help AIDS patients get the medication they need after he is diagnosed with the disease.

The Fisher King (1991)

A former radio DJ, suicidally despondent because of a terrible mistake he made, finds redemption in helping a deranged homeless man who was an unwitting victim of that mistake.

Cry Freedom (1987)

South African journalist Donald Woods is forced to flee the country, after attempting to investigate the death in custody of his friend, the black activist Steve Biko.

Steel Magnolias (1989)

A young beautician, newly arrived in a small Louisiana town, finds work at the local salon, where a small group of women share a close bond of friendship, and welcome her into the fold.

Patch Adams (1998)

The true story of a heroic man, Hunter "Patch" Adams, determined to become a medical doctor because he enjoys helping people. He ventured where no doctor had ventured before, using humour and pathos.

Shrink (2009)

Unable to cope with a recent personal tragedy, LA's top celebrity shrink turns into a pothead with no concern for his appearance and a creeping sense of his inability to help his patients.

Instinct (1999)

When noted anthropologist Dr. Ethan Powell, who left society to live in the jungle is imprisoned for murder, it's up to young psychiatrist Theo Caulder to get through to him.

Mona Lisa Smile (2003)

A free-thinking art professor teaches conservative 1950s Wellesley girls to question their traditional social roles.

The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

Two imprisoned men bond over a number of years, finding solace and eventual redemption through acts of common decency.

Cinematic alchemy of a kind that's all too rare, propelled by a supremely talented cast, a sumptuous score by Thomas Newman and a first-rate script and direction from first-timer Frank Darabont.

A Dangerous Method (2011)

A look at how the intense relationship between Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud gives birth to psychoanalysis.

Franklyn (2008)

A portrait of the broken lives of four people (a vigilante detective, a worried parent, an awkward man looking for love and a suicidal artist) as they all struggle to cope in their religiously-dystopian city.

Fight Club (1999)

An insomniac office worker and a devil-may-care soapmaker form an underground fight club that evolves into something much, much more.

Anand (1971)

The story of a terminally ill man who wishes to live life to the full before the inevitable occurs, as told by his best friend.