Three movies about mental health: "Horse Girl". spoilers

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Recently I've watched three movies about mental health on Netflix: Horse Girl, Frank and Cindy OXO, and Silver Lining Playbook.

(You may want to view these for yourself before reading this thread, as I include sort of obvious, upon viewing partway, spoilers.)

Silver Linings Playbook:

This was as much about mental health as Pulp Fiction was about the suitcase.

Not to say that it isn't a heartwarming crowd-pleaser, which I needed at that moment. And poor Bradley Cooper has Jennifer Laurence fall in love with him. Come on dude! Open your eyes! Also, they gloss over the fact that the father's gambling will destroy him someday.

Frank and Cindy OXO (2007 documentary, not the 2015 feature film):

Okay, this hit a little close to home. A delightful farce of three flawed, frankly lazy people. I saw more than a little bit of my early 20's self in this hapless but charming trio.

Alcohol abuse, ignored dental issues, misguided delusions of granduer, waiting for The Big Fix, sloth, unemployment, lying, genuine heart and kindness, and studiously avoiding the obvious one action that will start to solve extremely pressing problems. While all three have good and bad points, I couldn't help but like the stepfather.

Oh how I had to cringe when the much hyped and hoped for party "performance" was about to start.

"Horse Girl"

This movie is another level of mind-messing. I'm glad I watched it, but I'm not sure I'd enjoy watching it again.

Before I get to spoilers, if you can call them that, I walked away from that movie knowing all the facts but not understanding any of the truths.

***Spoilers***

My main mind-f: to what degree was she an unreliable narrator?

Was any of this true?

I'm fairly sure that the end of the movie, which must have happened earlier than was presented, was fully in her mind, with no objective truth: it was all her delusions.

I am inclined to believe, and I'll be glad to change my mind with any evidence, that it was all objectively true, which contradicts what I wrote in the previous sentence. It is that kind of movie.

The evidence, to the extent that anything in this movie is "evidence", is that she bore the bruises from the demonstrated rough handling by the aliens. Further, she observed herself twice: once out the window of the mental institution, and the other time when she was in the store.

One theory I read in Reddit (I know, I know) is that she was sane: she was kidnapped by the time-traveling aliens in the present time and was indeed her own grandmother; she appeared to be insane in the 1950's knowing about both aliens and our time. Any of us would appear insane if we went back fifty years and talked about the internet, smartphones, etc.

And also that the other girl in the mental institution was also being transported in time, and they bumped into each, in the guise of a mental hospital.

And to the extent that we trust her as a reliable narrator (oh boy), time is going backwards and forwards.

Ergo, while the movie shows that she stole the horse at the end of the movie, but "in reality" it happened before the movie began, which is why the horse farm employees don't trust her. And why the mental institution counselor doesn't make any sense in the timeline as presented.

Maybe she was committing suicide at the mental hospital, and the aliens were taking her to "heaven" at the "end of the movie".

Or maybe she was dead all along.

***End spoilers***

We can sit all day, discussing what, if anything, is true in this movie. I'd like nothing more.

But I think the point is, for me, I can't sit in a spot of self-assigned privilege (that I, Oak, am sane) and judge poor Sarah. Did she disassociate when viewing herself?

I'm not sure I have that right to judge her, or to say what is real.

[oak]

Hi friends. Three more movies I've enjoyed recently, that are a bit more "unreliable narrator" (which I love) than strictly mental health, per se. But all three are worth a watch.

1. Don't Talk to Irene (free on Amazon Prime) this is a very funny, extremely arch Canadian indie film. The ostensible main plot is a bit of trite drag, but this movie is well worth a watch. It is a triumph.

2. Safety Not Guaranteed (Netflix).

3. Unicorn Store (Netflix). Besides being very funny, this is a profound meditation on... many things.

All three have unreliable narrators, perhaps, but really explore "what is identity?". I sound dry and pretentious writing that, but each of the three above really get at, in a very charming way, the following:

"Are we who others say we are?"

"Can we change our identity? Or bring out new aspects of our identity by receiving new information?"

"What is truth? Is there a lie that tells the greater truth?"

"Is there at time where a pretty lie, that gets us through the day, is better than an ugly truth?"

Edit:

I also love me some 11th hour redemption story arcs of otherwise unlikeable characters (I realize portraying such characters is a real feat of acting). I'm thinking particularly of the triumphs that are "Defending Your Life" and "About Schmidt". I mention this because there is such a story arc in at least one of the films above.