Best movies with mentally ill characters

13 items • 35 views • 0 votes • updated Nov 8, 2026
Best movies with mentally ill characters

Discover the best movies with mentally ill characters, ranked from best to worst.

Based on 0 votes, the movie Benny & Joon, starring Johnny Depp and Mary Stuart Masterson, came in first as the best movie with mentally ill characters of all time, followed by Birdy and Don Juan DeMarco from 1994. Scroll down for the top 10 movies with mentally ill characters, recommended by movie fans in 2026.

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Image from Benny & Joon. Source: Amazon MGM Studios (YouTube). Image cropped and resized.

Recommend the best movies with mentally ill characters

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Benny & Joon 1
Benny & Joon
1993 - Johnny Depp, Mary Stuart Masterson, Aidan QuinnComedy, Drama
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Joon, a young woman with a mental illness, lives in the care of her brother Benny until she meets an eccentric man who models himself on Buster Keaton and falls in love with him. Johnny •••
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Birdy 2
Birdy
1984 - Matthew Modine, Nicolas Cage, John HarkinsDrama, War
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Two young friends are deeply scarred by the Vietnam War. One of them, always obsessed with birds, now believes he really is a bird and has been sent to a mental hospital, while the other •••
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Don Juan DeMarco 3
Don Juan DeMarco
1994 - Johnny Depp, Marlon Brando, Faye DunawayRomance, Drama, Comedy
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John Arnold DeMarco believes he is Don Juan, the world's greatest lover, and goes around in a cape and mask. Treated by psychiatrist Jack Mickler, he ends up changing the clinic's staff •••
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Primal Fear 4
Primal Fear
1996 - Richard Gere, Laura Linney, Edward Norton, John Mahoney, Alfre Woodard, Frances...
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An arrogant lawyer (Richard Gere) takes on the case of a young man (Edward Norton) accused of murdering the priest who took care of him. The case becomes much more complex when the accused •••
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Proof 5
Proof
2005 - Gwyneth Paltrow, Anthony Hopkins, Jake GyllenhaalDrama, Mystery
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Catherine, a woman in her late twenties, looks after her father Robert, a brilliant mathematician whose grip on reality is slipping. More and more, she wonders whether she has inherited •••
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Smile 6
Smile
2022 - Sosie Bacon, Kyle Gallner, Caitlin Stasey, Jessie T. Usher, Kal Penn, Rob Morgan, Robin...
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After witnessing a bizarre, traumatic incident involving one of her patients, Dr. Rose Cotter finds herself at the center of inexplicable events. Rose must confront her past, no matter how •••
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Stonehearst Asylum 7
Stonehearst Asylum
2014 - Kate Beckinsale, Jim Sturgess, David ThewlisThriller, Mystery, Horror
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Edward, a young Oxford-trained doctor, takes a job at Stonehearst asylum and is warmly welcomed by Dr. Lamb and his staff. He soon becomes drawn to a patient, Eliza Graves, and begins to •••
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The Fisher King 8
The Fisher King
1991 - Robin Williams, Jeff Bridges, Amanda PlummerComedy, Drama
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A former DJ, haunted for years by a terrible mistake he made on air, meets a homeless man who was one of the victims of that mistake. Together they set out to find the Holy Grail, hoping •••
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The Professor and the Madman 9
The Professor and the Madman
2019 - Mel Gibson, Sean Penn, Natalie DormerHistory, Drama
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In the mid-19th century, Professor James Murray begins collecting words for the first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary. More than 10,000 entries come from a patient at Broadmoor •••
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The Woman in the Window 10
The Woman in the Window
2021 - Amy Adams, Gary Oldman, Anthony MackieCrime, Mystery, Thriller
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Suffering from agoraphobia, a woman living alone in New York no longer leaves her home and starts watching her new neighbors through the window. One day, she witnesses a disturbing act of •••
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How do the rankings work?

If you liked the list Best movies with mentally ill characters, discover more below:

 
Best Drama Movies Best Drama Movies
Best Mystery Movies Best Mystery Movies
Best movies based on books Best movies based on books
Best Comedy Movies Best Comedy Movies
Best psychological movies Best psychological movies
Best movies with Johnny Depp Best movies with Johnny Depp
Best Crime Movies Best Crime Movies
Best Thriller Movies Best Thriller Movies
Best movies based on true stories Best movies based on true stories
Best Horror Movies Best Horror Movies
Best movies with lawyers Best movies with lawyers
Best movies with Anthony Mackie Best movies with Anthony Mackie
Best Movies of 2021 Best Movies of 2021
Best movies with Edward Norton Best movies with Edward Norton
Best International Feature Oscar winners Best International Feature Oscar winners
Best Historical Movies Best Historical Movies

Frequently asked questions

Is there already a ranking based on votes?

This list has not received any votes yet. The order shown does not reflect visitor preferences. You can help by voting for the options you recommend.

What is in this list?

This list includes, for example, Primal Fear, The Year Between, Smile.

What are the most recent movies in this list?

Among the titles with a known release year, the most recent are: The Year Between (2023), Smile (2022), The Woman in the Window (2021).

Which movies from 1990–1999 are included?

Titles released in this period include Primal Fear (1996), Don Juan DeMarco (1994), Benny & Joon (1993).

How do I vote and how is the ranking decided?

Press the up arrow if you recommend an option or the down arrow if you do not. You can use the search box in the list to quickly find a name and vote directly. The order takes into account both positive and negative votes and how many there are, and positions can change as votes are added.