Slideshow
FAMILY LIFE
U.K., 1971
Directed by Ken Loach
Written by David Mercer
With Sandy Ratcliff, Grace Cave, Bill Dean
Approx. 108 mins. DCP.
"A troubled nineteen-year-old’s mental condition is exacerbated by her unfeeling relatives, and the cold and ineffective solutions of medical practitioners, who prescribe drug and electro-convulsive therapy. Promotes the theories of psychiatrist R.D. Laing, who did not believe that schizophrenia was a brain disease but a psychological syndrome that 'cannot be understood without understanding despair.'” – BFI
Reviews
“A disturbing and provocative film about a girl sinking into schizophrenia. David Mercer’s succinct screenplay, Loach’s probing direction, and the sensitive acting ward off the pitfalls of self-consciousness, didactics and schematics.”
– Variety