Hypnosis in Popular Culture - Film

Film

  • The Pirate (1948), an MGM musical starring Gene Kelly and Judy Garland, in which Kelly's character hypnotizes Garland's character into a trance, freeing her spirit to reveal her fantasies and desires.
  • The Manchurian Candidate (1962), based on Richard Condon's novel The Manchurian Candidate (see "Written works").
  • The Ipcress File (1965), a British espionage film directed by Sidney J. Furie and starring Michael Caine. The screenplay was based on Len Deighton's 1962 novel, The IPCRESS File. In the story, Harry Palmer (the secret agent portrayed by Caine) is caught by the enemy and subjected to brainwashing through torture and hypnosis.
  • Pharaoh (1966), a Polish feature-film adaptation of BolesÅ‚aw Prus' novel Pharaoh (see "Written works").
  • Heart of Glass (1976), written, directed and produced by Werner Herzog, in which almost all the actors perform while under hypnosis.
  • Dead Again (1991), a psychological thriller/neo-noir directed by Kenneth Branagh. The character Frank (Derek Jacobi) regresses his patients using hypnosis.
  • In Good Will Hunting (1997), Will Hunting undergoes attempted hypnotherapy, poking fun at the process by producing ridiculous answers to the therapist's questions.
  • Stir of Echoes (1999), After being hypnotized, Tom Witzky begins seeing haunting visions of a girl's ghost and a mystery begins to unfold around her.
  • In Zoolander (2001), Derek Zoolander is hypnotized to Mugatu's song "Relax" to kill the Prime Minister of Malaysia.
  • In Donnie Darko (2001), the titular character undergoes hypnosis in an attempt to locate the root of his mental difficulties.
  • Office Space (2001), in which the protagonist is hypnotized in order to relieve stress and burnout; his hypnotist has a heart attack and dies before he is brought out of the trance.
  • The Curse of the Jade Scorpion (2001) by Woody Allen.
  • In Shallow Hal (2001), Hal Larson is hypnotized by Tony Robbins into seeing people as their inner beauty instead of their external selves.
  • In K-Pax (2001), A man claiming to be an extraterrestrial from a planet called 'K-PAX' named Prot (pronounced like the word "goat", played by Kevin Spacey) is hypnotized by psychiatrist Mark Powell (Jeff Bridges).
  • The Manchurian Candidate (2004), based on Richard Condon's novel The Manchurian Candidate (see "Written works").

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