The Aesthetic of Madness

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A look into Madness in Film, the best portrays of it through Storytelling, Visual Language and theme. Films and filmmakers that make us feel through the eyes of Madness.
FILMS USED
0:00 A Woman Under The Influence (Dir: John Cassavetes)
0:27 Seconds (Dir: John Frankenheimer)
0:51 Eraserhead (Dir: David Lynch)
1:21 The Lost Weekend (Dir: Billy Wilder)
1:35 Shock Corridor (Dir: Samuel Fuller)
1:46 Through a Glass Darkly (Dir: Ingmar Bergman)
2:45 Vertigo (Dir: Alfred Hitchcock)
4:46 The Seventh Continent (Dir: Michael Haneke)
6:54 Street of Crocodiles (Dir: Quay Brothers)
8:14 Taxi Driver (Dir: Martin Scorsese)
8:33 First Reformed (Dir: Paul Schrader)
10:36 I Live in Fear (Dir: Akira Kurosawa)
11:57 Le Diable, Probablement (Dir: Robert Bresson)
14:32 Joker (Dir: Todd Phillips)
14:48 The Hunt (Dir: Thomas Vinterberg)
15:00 Picnic at Hanging Rock (Dir: Peter Weir)
17:10 The Exterminating Angel (Dir: Luis Bunuel)
19:51 Possibly, In Michigan (Dir: Cecelia Condit)
21:10 The Lighthouse (Dir: Robert Eggers)
23:52 Apocalypse Now (Dir: Francis Ford Coppola)
24:48 Aguirre, The Wrath of God (Dir: Werner Herzog)
26:38 Embrace of the Serpent (Dir: Ciro Guerra)
28:48 Black Narcissus (Dir: Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger)
29:01 Je, Tu, Il, Elle (Dir: Chantal Akerman)
30:22 Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (Dir: John McNaughton)
32:12 Natural Born Killers (Dir: Oliver Stone)
33:18 The Piano Teacher (Dir: Michael Haneke)
35:00 Marat/Sade (Dir: Peter Brook)
36:55 Mephisto (Dir: István Szabó)
37:57 Symbiopsychotaxiplasm (Dir: William Greaves)
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[@KayButtonJay]

The Piano Teacher is one of the most underrated movies of last 20 years. Hands down

[@mclare71]

It’s a masterpiece.

[@flazeda8743]

Isabelle Huppert is the most subtle actress ever!

[@edithmr21o]

1 of the only 2 movies I’ve seen in this list. That and eraserhead

[@cruisingscenesandtakingbea4197]

Pretentious trash, like most movies on this list. Taxi driver, lighthouse, joker, possibly in michigan are the only good ones here.

[@josemiguelmaciasvocar2690]

Possibly In Michigan is an incredible short.

[@WobblesandBean]

It's my favorite!

[@ForkySeven]

I have been obsessed with it for years.

[@PeachysMom]

I think it’s overrated, but I like it

[@JacobPlat]

An incredible short what?

[@complimentbot7015]

@@JacobPlat your mom

[@neoaureus]

I was fascinated by madness when I was 14 years old.... now I am 47... here are some films 1. Pokkuveyil ( Twilight ) by G. Aravindan...film from Kerala India,,,, a story of a mind being lost and erased set against the Emergency in India ... most of the film was shot in available light at dusk. 2. One who flew over the cuckoo's nest . Come on .. thats essential. 3. Possession by Andrej Zulawski...man! no words no words... 4. Mullholland Drive ... yes... the ending scene is madness made real... it could be drugs... but it is a state of mind. 5. Memoirs of a Justified Sinner by Wojciech Has. Based on the James Hogg novel 17th Century ? ... the inspiration for Fight Club !! what a book and what a movie... pure evil of a divided mind. Chill you to the bone. 6. Spider by Cronenberg... master of Body horror takes on the mind.. Hailed as the greatest movie depiction of Schizophrenia. 7. A Dangerous Method by Cronenberg... the story of Jung, Freud and a certain mad woman. 8. Awakenings by Penny Marshall... the true story of Oliver Sacks and catatonic patients.. .probably the last great acting of Robert de Niro... 9. Melancholia by Lars Von Trier... this is the edge of the human mind itself. 10. Brain Dead by Adam Simon... in my opinion ... a sublime B Movie of Epic proportions ... worthy of Borges himself. Bill Pullman delivers.

[@magnuskallas]

While the video essay is great, and I thank the authors, I too noticed it might have gone too much into the subject of nihilism and shifted away from the creative portrayal of real madness. By this standard, many existentialistic films fit the list. Now, I would add The Ninth Configuration. And since the subject of loneliness and addiction was touched, definitely The Fire Within (Le Feu follet). And possibly even In a Glass Cage... and Salo.

[@alisonmercer5946]

Surprised Repulsion wasnt mentioned. and a load of horror movies...

[@alisonmercer5946]

Whatever happened to sweet baby jane. The witch heck so many movies lol

[@alisonmercer5946]

I love religous fanatacisn madness

[@am2023]

Theorema and possesion are blatantly absent

[@Chkhitoooo]

A minute of silence for those cinephiles who don't know about this channel.

[@WobblesandBean]

A sad tidbit on _The Seventh Continent_ by the director: "Haneke correctly predicted that audiences would be upset with [the money flushing] scene, and remarked that in today's society the idea of destroying money is more taboo than parents killing their child and themselves." Sadly, that disconnect has only gotten worse.

[@princembat]

i didnt even care about the money as much as i cared that the person was sticking their hand down a toilet. sooo gross

[@Rich_P_Anya]

I lightly aughed and then felt numb when I saw that, but not offended. Wonder what that says about me.

[@waltdill927]

I don't recall flushing some currency down the toilet right before jumping out a window. But I didn't actually go through with my original plan to do the same thing with my bank account.

[@dhnyl]

The first time I watched Holy Motors (which was back in 2018) I was genuinely offended by the scene of Denis Lavant ripping up money. In retrospect, I was more upset with that scene than the weird CGI snake sex scene early on in the film. I felt like sharing this because I think it’s similar to the message you present with Haneke’s, though I could hardly tell you what this says about me.

[@cruisingscenesandtakingbea4197]

I wasn’t bothered by it because I knew the money wasn’t real just like the person being killed isn’t actually being killed in a movie.

[@brandonlabbe3577]

I think we can glimpse what madness may look like in our dreams, how we just accept and go along with whatever impossible situation our mind presents us with.

[@Rich_P_Anya]

Is it mad to assume we aren't mad?

[@brandonlabbe3577]

@@Rich_P_Anya well if most of us are mad in a pretty observably similar way then that's just the natural common standard.

[@Redem10]

Each video from you is a gem, I learn about so many movies I haven't heard before

[@kostajovanovic3711]

oh, the comments are open again

[@gen-zeke-8571]

I feel like the closest relationship is with direct opposition from great distances.

[@gen-zeke-8571]

@@kostajovanovic3711 make it last.

[@nickscena2719]

A Woman Under the Influence is such a beautiful film

[@mclare71]

Truly.

[@apullcan]

I can think of very few times a movie left me feeling more upset and profoundly disturbed than the final sequence of "A Woman Under the Influence" did.

[@kannoaww]

8:01 Polish person here, I would translate it more in the lines of "Apparently we couldn't do any better" Anyway spectacular video as always, I'm glad you guys decided to keep making video essays after all and treasure us with these gems

[@nsjs17]

I would translate it more as “Apparently we couldn’t afford anything else.” Implying not even that we couldn’t afford anything better, but anything else. That was the only choice.

[@succ_prod]

nobody cares

[@BadCatInHat]

@@succ_prod nah, I care

[@briefbeats8738]

Finally after 3+ months

[@kobaltocr6927]

💚🙌

[@Anomalous_Phenomenon]

The waiting was… maddening 😎 🎶“YEAAAH. Won’t get fool agaain…”🎶

[@Oceanmachine27]

I thought "Horse Girl" was an excellent depiction of a mental breakdown. Especially the subtle signs at the beginning, like the horse trainers acting strange and aggressive for no reason. It felt exactly like the first faint stirrings of paranoia, where formerly kind people start seeming guarded and hostile.

[@xoxoshaneandmexoxo]

No joke this movie triggered a week long episode

[@kahansudev5937]

"Reality is maliable to symbols", "the dichotomy of power and primitivism", the writing is bloody good

[@sophiecampo8268]

So happy to see someone treat Cecilia Condit's work as wonderfully creative short films as opposed to just spooky KZbin. Thank you so much for all the effort you put into your videos-- I'm always amazed at and inspired by your intuition for film!

[@ruthbennett7563]

Thank you. What a treat to find this in my media feed of actual madness.

[@line4169]

Perfect blue (Satoshi kon) Made me sick after finishing it, such a fantastic gem of animation.

[@siyuanlu6231]

Really hoped he would mention it! Makes you question your own perception at every turn, one of the very few movies I watched multiple times (once in the cinema - after the last line of the film, there was dead scilence except for that one guy in the back, who loudly exclaimed: "Fuck.")

[@No_Use_For_A_Name1981]

Stellar video, as always. Love that the lighthouse was called out, as that movie was a full-on descent into madness. Add that to the bold choice of going with black and white and a shorter aspect ratio making it so visually distinct, its just one of my top movies the last few years.

[@atulyabharadwaj2279]

"bold choice"

[@semantickascadesyt]

bold? hahah

[@ChrisMaxfieldActs]

What you two commenters trying to suggest. Shooting in film, in black and white, using the original film aspect ratio, is indeed a bold choice. Like it or hate it, it's hardly a typical choice, for a film made in the last few decades.

[@rickyb6086]

Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson gave a legendary performance in _The Lighthouse_ . I think that's why it worked.

[@peachtime]

Thank you for returning. I think this channel is the subconscious reason I started falling in love with film.

[@DejanOfRadic]

Your channel brings me back to memories of winter nights trekking to the best video store in my city to find some unknown treasure, or of the once strong culture of rep and second run theaters that once laced the city. I miss that time before ease and over-saturation of media turned everyone into ironic cynics.....your channel brings me back to a more earnest and potent relationship with art.

[@robertmyers5269]

Amazing. I always find your essays fascinating and challenging. II don't think that I could imagine an essay the name checks several of my favorite films (Vertigo, Picnic at Hanging Rock, Henry, Marat/Sade) with others I know of but haven't watched, and yet others that I'm totally unfamiliar with in a way that makes me want to revisit and explore.

[@BehappyBhairava]

Some of the best content on youtube seems to come from your channel, well done!

[@mariecait]

Thank you. I am a movie lover that lives alone on disability for mental illness so I can relate a lot ,.. also your voice is very nice I have trouble listening to alot of voices but your voice is really listenable 😊

[@dannysullivan720]

The comprehension of this video is impressive , using movies as an example shows how much we need to know about ourselves , madness is not a external thing but something we need explore in ourselves!

[@luismarioguerrerosanchez4747]

1:58 *SPOILERS TO THROUGH A GLASS DARKLY* I know Harriet Andersson's character was supposed to be going through a nervous breakdown, and the loud sound and vibrations came from the helicopter to the hospital his father has just called, but I like to believe that, just like Ofelia's vision of the Faun in Pan's Labyrinth were confirmed to be real by its director Guillermo del Toro, her visions of god were real

[@jasonbarton6087]

Welcome back CC! After your finality of "the internet is death" last year - an entirely accurate assessment btw - I feared for your stability and felt as if I'd lost an anchoring presence! Glad to see you're still engaged in visual creation! I return to your Postmodernist Tarantino video again and again and again!!!

[@v.watson4179]

I just love this channel so much, thanks for the amazing quality content

[@jahosaphat]

I love that line "nobody out there knows if we're for real."

[@Dat_Guys_Wise]

Before I finish the video I wanna say this is my favorite channel ever

[@darthmoduh]

So happy you are posting again!! This is one of my favorite channels on yt😊

[@acasefordegenerates]

Hey man excellent job I watched this multiple times. Very grateful to your talent and for sharing it

[@mikehansonbryan5365]

I needed this.

[@johnbroadway4196]

To see madness from the outside, as to feeling it from the inside, is a difference in how one use to remember.

[@gabriel55446]

I leave this video with over 10 movies added to my list of must watch. Thank you!

[@sarahl701]

The Seventh Continent is a GODLY film

[@MrEhbaw]

I didn’t know u guys are back uploading!!! Super happy for that.

[@AKoooooooo]

breathtaking video. thank you as always. can't wait to see what's next!

[@ShadowWizard123]

First time you've spoken about a film I've actually seen. 😀 Not that it matters, I enjoy your videos on their own merits.

[@notdeadjustyet8136]

Fantastic video, fantastic films. Many thanks ❤️

[@zardoz7900]

One aspect of madness is fragmentation. Life in a big city like Los Angeles with endless shacks sprawling infinitely or KZbin with it's endless podcasters vying for your attention. We cured boredom with smartphones and in the process we became increasingly mad. It's intensifying, perhaps exposing the meaningless of existence. Not to everyone. Only to those who are ripe and then what?

[@thomasmorris7651]

Excellent essay! Many new films for me to discover!

[@marxxthespot]

Excellent video, as usual👀👍 Thank you for giving life (and keeping alive) the academic tradition of film analysis. Love the world class narration, editing and writing too. With so much true madness in our headlines and real lives right now this is a 🎯 Currently I’m reading Gabor Mate’s epic book that just came out a couple of weeks ago, The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness, and Healing in a Toxic Culture and would love to see a video from you on what we have traditionally called “mental illness.” Films that instantly come to mind for analysis is my personal favorite Such A Beautiful Day (2012) by legit auteur Dan Hertzfeldt, Jane Campion’s brilliant Sweetie (1989), One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, Blue Jasmine, Silver Lining Playbook, Julian Donkey Boy, Girl Interupted, Suicide Diaries, the classics King of Hearts, Psycho, Donnie Darko, the horrific but unforgettable Come and See, and, most importantly, the documentary masterpiece that started it all by the one and only Frederick Weismann, Titicut Follies (1967)

[@IllPropaganda]

Using madness in your own ad at the end was top-shelf!

[@JackT13]

Superb. Some movies here that I’ve never heard of- all look beyond fascinating

[@amyllarsen9299]

Wow, that was amazing. I was totally captivated. Thank you! I am a new fan.

[@OutwardFilmNetwork]

Another great video from CC! 👏

[@asdretdghjhfgj]

Great, great video. I was honestly expecting Bataille or Deleuze to come up around these topics!

[@letsrock6452]

Thank you so much for this!

[@kahansudev5937]

Damnn, you guys killed it with this video. You've nailed it eh,

[@user-qz5ml3bb7z]

Welcome back man! I miss your videos

[@VincentMaslowski]

Hey I took several of Cecelia Condit's film classes back at UWM. She's great!

[@angelthedemon666]

as a diagnosed schizophrenic i love movies that show madness and why people would think that, its really not that hard to understand and it could happen to anyone under certain circumstances

[@ThePress00]

You mean besides genetics there are other factors that could trigger schizophrenia?

[@angelthedemon666]

@@ThePress00 its usually a combonation of genetics and environment, but i meant more psychosis can happen to anyone

[@mahmoudaldbes3306]

Amazing work 🙏🙏❤️❤️

[@GamersXnostalgia]

I love that I found your channel!

[@awesomeandamazinggirl]

Amazinggg video!! Thank you i will be watching some of these!!

[@nonnobissolum]

Well, if this isn't the timeliest of explorations then I don't know what is. Brilliant, cheers.

[@haehaehaeli]

I cannot wait to be insane. Thank you for the inspirations

[@LoveIXTC]

very nice, beeing able to comment and show appreciation towards the best movie related channel of KZbin. Thank You :) Every time i watch a video of yours, you'll bring out my inner child in a sense of fascination and appreciation towards movies. much love

[@GothicCitrus]

Captivating and super thought-provoking!

[@58christiansful]

What a wonderful channel.

[@larindanomikos]

A Woman Under the Influence!! What a great film. I have a full collection of Cassavetes films.

[@EyeofAffinado]

Thanks for mentioning Buñuel: I think he will be valued with his own merit in the nearer future

[@lionstandingII]

Yesh...just watched A Woman Under the Influence yesterday. Rowlands was brilliant....

[@arronshaw5358]

Thank you for another great video

[@klownck]

wonderful that the comments are here, thank you so much for allowing this. love your videos

[@youngkhaleefa7918]

FINALLY A VID

[@therogue1542]

Just want to say that the video games that changed storytelling video was impeccable and amazing and changed my life

[@MrLugine]

love this

[@PollyMacLolly]

This might be the best video on KZbin.

[@Altopasto]

Besides the video, this is a amazing playlist of films

[@cmazz_318]

Very well done. It's beautiful.

[@THICCTHICCTHICC]

Damn dude this video could just be your best one

[@adriannademadriguera4859]

another home run. always a pleasure. thank you for your talent and hard work. stay well.

[@superlive98]

aside from mispronouncing "AGUIRRE"

[@JCarrera27]

The best🔥🖤

[@pinakibhattacharyya7853]

It was great to hear a word or two about the signifier and the signified or the signifying chain where symbolism reigns.

[@frostychips8939]

Possibly in michigan has always been one of my favorite videos

[@Mtv-get-off-thee-air]

Ah yes my favorite aesthetic

[@egressoutofthedark]

Haneke doesn't get enough credit for how darkly funny his films are. The "systematically" videotape destruction scene in The Seventh Continent is a perfect punchline.

[@evilroy6568]

This content is wonderful.

[@hdervish2497]

Possibly In Michigan 🖤🖤 Cecelia Condit is brilliant

[@eduardox21]

brilliant video!!!

[@tuativenatined]

This is why I love cosmic horror so much. Instead of feeling crazy and chaotic you get to watch someone become crazy and chaotic.

[@mattjames7386]

Vertigo is one of the most disturbing films I've ever seen. Really unsettling.

[@charon7320]

amazing, thank you for leaving the comment section unlocked. best wishes

[@edwardromero3580]

Fantastic.

[@odolwa099]

Excellent!!

[@gabrielgolden4336]

The Seventh Continent is extraordinary. Can't recommend it highly enough.

[@stofflwoffl3370]

A Masterpiece!

[@austincde]

"This House has People in it" is a rollercoaster for a horror short lol

[@AT-ol2yj]

Yeah, what he said. 😆That was deep! Well done!!

[@taruniloitongbam7666]

This is golden

[@benjaminsarazen7659]

My mind is officially blown

[@fight8the8feeling8]

You can see the aesthetic of madness with a lot of adolescents today, with the relation to psychotic film characters. Vertigo was an amazing edition, while I think Natural Born killers was the overall glorification of these killers in the media, funny enough you can compare that message to the new Dahmer series.

[@johndizzle2284]

Not entirely sure how I ended up here, but this is great!

[@russellst.martin4255]

Whoa, just happened to have the Tool album Undertow on in the background during the Street of Crocodiles segment and it was like looking at direct inspiration for the PS music video.

[@supersonico9364]

Buñuel’s Exterminating Angel reminds me a little bit of J J Abrams Lost nobody can leave and there’s a polar bear, well only a regular bear but I see a connection there 👍

[@katherinekelly6432]

Madness is defined by society so if the collective is mad no one will label it as madness. Individuals have been labelled mad by the masses only for the masses to catch up to the individual. What is madness is not always obvious.

[@toi_techno]

That's weird. Earlier on my way home from getting milk I was thinking about Van Gogh and how his hallucinations and mania manifested in his art and then youtube suggests this.

[@Capthowdy098]

Le Diable, Probablement 12:30 - 12:45 the way you phrased the narration here makes me wonder how this film was influenced by Albert Camus. Absolutely one film I will be looking into. Edit: this is an amazing video, now subscribed!

[@Foxsbooknook]

First time over at this channel, are you the same guy as bedtime stories? Keep up the content!

[@ThirstyKnife]

Superb. Thank you YT algorithm.

[@TVLuke15]

I'm going to watch all these movies, aside from Apocalypse Now and Natural Born Killers (already seen those classics) ... Thanks for this!

[@TVLuke15]

Oh, and Shock Corridor, but I'm going to watch it again because it's so good.

[@galdrinthe3rd]

Would love to see some discussion of Carnival of Souls on this channel! I think it could fit nicely