There have been countless depictions of sociopaths and other predatory personalities in film. Most are pretty bad, incomplete and/or inaccurate. But some have been dead-on.
And so I’ve canvassed my memory for what I regard as several notably excellent portraits of sociopaths in film. I’d be curious what you think of these performances (if you’ve seen them), and eager to discover, through you, new film/television portraits of sociopaths that ring disturbingly true.
In no special order, I’ll start with the original foreign film, The Vanishing, 1986 (not the subsequent and lame Hollywood remake). The Vanishing delivers-up one of the most sinister depictions of a sociopath I’ve ever seen. The fright derives less from graphic violence (there is none) than from the movie’s success at immersing you into the compartmentalized world of its principal character, who is seamlessly managing the presentation of a normal, well-adjusted family man, as he simultaneously and covertly pursues his secret life and morbid agenda.
Next is Unlawful Entry, 1992, a movie starring Ray Liotta as a local cop who smoothly enters the life of a young neighborhood couple (actors Kurt Russell and Anne Archer). Although somewhat formulaic plot-wise, the movie’s performances are impressive. Liotta’s sociopath—glib, charming and seductive—will make the hair on your skin rise. And both Archer and Russell vividly express the tension and alarm arising from their slow awareness that Liotta isn’t who he appeared so convincingly to be.
Richard Gere, in a somewhat unheralded role, nails-down a sociopathic cop in Internal Affairs, 1990. Gere gives a riveting presentation of the sociopathic mentality. Andy Garcia (actor), an Internal Affairs cop in Gere’s department, finds himself in the unenviable position of having to confront the slowly unfolding breadth (and horror) of Gere’s sociopathy. Garcia is also incredible. As in Unlawful Entry, the movie accurately shows how sociopaths can invade, lodge themselves in, and violate innocent, dignified lives.
One of the greatest performances of a sociopath I’ve ever seen can be found in Episode#44 of the former HBO series Six Feet Under. The episode is called, “That’s My Dog.” In it, David (actor Michael C. Hall) extends a random act of help to a road-stranded stranger, Jake (actor Michael Weston). David then finds himself overpowered by Jake, who, in the course of the episode’s hour, manages to embody virtually every relevant, sinister quality for which the sociopath is notorious. Weston’s demonic performance is astonishing. Hall’s as the traumatized victim of a sadistic sociopath is equally amazing.
Great performance, yes. Sociopath? Maybe not.
Dexter
Speaking of actor Michael C. Hall, I wonder what your take is on Dexter, the great Showtime Series in which Hall plays a sociopathic serial killer working, by day, as a Miami crime-scene forensics analyst?
I love this series, which is coming into its third season. But as disturbing a character as Dexter is, I would not characterize him as a sociopath. This is just a fun diagnostic quibble. Ostensibly, Dexter grows up a budding, violent sociopath. His father (or father-figure) recognizes the dark, evil side over which, as a boy and adolescent, Dexter seems to have little, and diminishing, control. The father sees that Dexter is compulsively, inexorably inclined to sadistic violence.
His solution is to somehow train Dexter to direct his sociopathic, homicidal proclivities towards cruel, menacing, destructive individuals. Best, if someone’s got to be snuffed-out by Dexter, it be someone the world will be better without!
And so Dexter becomes skilled, over time, at identifying individuals the world won’t miss; individuals as dangerous and creepy as he.
Why, then, is Dexter not really a sociopath—and indeed, diagnostically speaking, not even necessarily plausible? Because, despite his violent, murderous compulsions, Dexter is, first of all, a fundamentally sincere person. He is also loyal–for instance to his sister and a girlfriend. And while Dexter struggles to “feel” warm feelings, indeed anything—a struggle, incidentally, that he embraces—he knows how to have the backs of others, even where his self-interest may be at risk.
In a word, Dexter strives, against his darkest, most sordid inclinations, for growth. This is precisely what makes him and the series so fascinating, and precisely what rules him out as sociopath.
What do you think?
(This article is copyrighted (c) 2008 by Steve Becker, LCSW.)
Presseject, I also saw Notes on a Scandal (excellent movie). The Judy Dench character was a classic psychopath and narcissist.
Has anyone ever seen House of Games? Joe Montegna’s portrayal of the sociopath is chilling.
This isn’t a movie I am going to tell about, this happened for real. My daughter-in-law who is an angel and I just adore, well her preacher, pastor or whatever of her church was arrested for robbing 6 bank’s. He used that money and the church’s money to pay for prostitutes. This happened about 6 years ago. My daughter in -law was devastated, the whole congregation was. I remember seeing this man one time. He was a phycopath….he only got 4 year’s in the pen because he never used a weapon when he robbed the teller’s. He just gave them a note that said give me all your money and I wont harm you….
Henry that’s awful.. the poor people.
James.. I read that.. Ann Rule is a great writer and she often writes about sociopaths. She became fascinated with them because she was a close friend of Ted Bundy’s and never could connect the “two Teds”, the evidence proved it to her, but even she, a true crime writer, couldn’t spot a sociopath sitting right next to her for months.
The Diane Downs case is so sad and incredible.. if you ever see her speak, she is obsessed with her own case and says nothing at all about her poor kids. Same with some of the other mommy murderers.. Susan Smith, and that woman that burned her house down with her kids inside it.. her 13 year old even called to ask his mom what to do from inside the burning house and his mom told him to just stay put and wait to be rescued… which, of course never happened.
A few year ago I got fascinated with “true crime books” and a friend and I would trade books and we were reading all these horrible books (there are thousands of them out there) on these grizzly murders and the horrible things these people did. After some period of time I quit reading that stuff and have a difficult time with it now because it makes me so angry, so I don’t read them any more.
One was about a female physician (maybe the one you were talking about above) where she was so mad at her x that she burned the house with the kids and told one that was out on a porch roof to go back inside. All but one of her kids I think died in the fire.
I think in a way maybe because my son was a murderer it made me get fascinated with these stories, also I was in California when the Charlie Manson thing happened and I followed it in the papers and on TV while it unfolded, and the tiral and so on. The fact that if he had short hair Manson looked a great deal like my P-bio father and had that same STARE in his eyes that my P-bio father did when he was enraged, might have had something to do with it.
I guess I’m not the only one that reads this stuff because it obviously sells. I did read a book written by Laci Petersen’s mother a while back as well. Apparently Laci’s family didn’t pick up on the fact he was a P until after the murder when he was obviously NOT concerned about her whereabouts, just like this girl in Florida is only concerned that no one is concerned about HER, they just want to concentrate all their concern on her missing (and probably dead) child. How inconsiderate of the press and the law to concentrate on the missing child. LOL
In a way I think our contact with the Ps is sort of like we had glimpsed “Big Foot” out in the woods, and we become fasicanted with the rumor of his existence so we read everything we can about a possible sighting. Our contact with the Ps makes us want to know more about how they think, what their habits are, like we are studying some unknown species or something.
I think “man’s inhumanity to man” is 99.9% the work of psychopaths.
Has anyone seen the film No Country for old men?
Textbook Sociopath which also Javier Bardem who played Anton Chigurh an oscar…Chilling portrayal, but more along the lines of a physchopath.
also a few more worth noting
White oleander… Michelle Pfeiffer is so DEAD on as a SP
According to a friend, this movie was used as a reference in her Physch class, to give a classic example of a sociopath.
a few more worth noting
Girl interrupted…Angelina jolie is supposed to be a sociopath
and if memory serves me correctly
a clockwork orange
Havent seen it in years, But i think Malcolm mcdowell was Supposedly cured of it, by the end.
I saw ‘Girl in the Park’ last night (2007 with Sigourney Weaver and Kate Bosworth) after recently discovering that someone I had trusted was a con man. In the film, a woman who has lost her daughter many years ago wants desperately to believe that a free loading young con artist could be her lost daughter. The improvisations and calculations involved on the part of the young con artist to insinuate her way into the woman’s life are very realistic. It is a simple movie without pretensions, but chilling for anyone who knows the inner workings of a con artist!
Kat_o_nine_tales
Yes, she is one of my favorite writers. Love her books. In fact I read all the ones you mentioned. After my ex left and learned about Personality Disorders I ran across her books. Have you read her book on the Peterson case. What insight this woman has!!!
But for some reason the Downs story was so sad! Plus it really made me mad! How in God’s name can anyone father or mother do something like this to their own children?? Using children are a tool to get whatever she wants! It really hit home for me, being so that my ex did the same thing (using a front of being a good mother) but thank God so far haven’t cross that line yet..
I often wonder what she tells (my ex) people when they ask her why she doesn’t see her children? There are four in all, two now adults plus my two. None want nothing to do with her. Really how does one explain that away? I remember once she (yes she was dead serious) asked me out of the blue. “James, why do people keep taking my children away from me?”. I just walked thru the door after getting off of work and it just blew me out of the water. I couldn’t believe it! The ones she were referring to are the ones she never tried to visit once! The same two she never did as ordered by the courts to do (pay child support, get a job and keep a insurance policy on for life and medical). Well, at the time I didn’t know what to say. So I just told her “I didn’t know”. I know I was a coward for not telling her the truth but I also knew how bad her temper was. I was a coward I know but God I was so tired of all the fighting and I really didn’t believe she wanted the truth anyway. I did try other times telling her the truth or what I thought but it always ended the same way with her giving me the silence treatment for days sometimes weeks on end. God forgive me, I just got so tired of the fighting..
steve becker; yes i watched match point with my ex s path not knowing it would a depiction of one, at the end he said that was good the bad man won in the end ! I WAS GOB SMACKED WHO SAYS SUCH A THING IF YOU WATCHED THAT MOVIE. another one that comes to mind is californication, its on tv a series with david ducovny, x files fame. he is a sex addict and i think a sociopath. anyone seen this .the main character in mtch piont is spot on he did a lot of things my ex does, especially getting so obsessed with the other woman, he cant stop him self. i think woody did a bit of research cause he got it so right. also my ex loved the series nip tuck i think he thought he was the main character in that show. another one that bother s me is two and a half men, it is funny but what a womaniser and slightly s path charlie sheen is in this one. maybe a bit of his true life who knows. any feed back, there are so many out there i tried to get the vanishing mentioned by some one here my local dvd hire store didnt have it shame i would like to see it. thanks again.
Like the sitcom two and a half men myself and so do my children. Well that’s guys for you..LOL
In fact my son told me that the main character Charlie Sheen is label a Narcissistic person in the series which was why I started to watch it and got hook on the other characters and Charley. Love mother and his brother wife or ex wife? What a dysfunctional family. Guess maybe that is why it is so funny. Also strange being a NPD (Charlie Sheen) that he show compassion for his younger brother and son at times during the series but yes I agree about the main character “What a womanizer!”..
Has anyone watched the “The Third Trimester?” I saw it l ast night and it had several P characters (one woman might have been a Borderline rather than a P)
The “Gabby” character is preg in the 3rd trimester, and she agrees to let her baby be adopted by a childless couple, it turns out that the man of the couple knows her from college, but doesn’t reveal this to his wife, the Gabby character tries to get the husband to leave his wife and go with her. She uses the baby to try to extort money from the wife, then from the couple, after the baby is born she demands 100K$, then drops that and wants the man.
The wife meets by accident the “Nick” character, he is a cop and she tells him her tale of woe about the GAbby character wanting the baby back and the extortion. A few days later, the husband goes to “duke it out” with GAbby and finds her dead…..I won’t spoil the total thing but like lots of “chick flicks” it has a happy ending (not realistic LOL) but the portrayal of the Gabby character (can’t remember the names of the actors CRS) is well done and gives a great portrait of the personality disordered manipulator. The “Nick” character may be psychotic but he does “come on” like a savior and wins the trust of the woman in the film by lies lies lies and mirroring.
James, I don’t watch TV at home but have occasionally seen the show you are talking about (Two and a half men) and I think ALL sit coms are funny because they are dysfunctional and REAL in some ways. They are stereotypes of course, but none the less real in terms of we are able to identify with them. If those episodes happened in real life they would be traumatic for all concerned but on a sit com they are funny, just like our humor is all about PAIN —we laugh at the guy slipping on the banana peel and falling down. We laugh about the drunk stumbling home etc. In REAL life none of this would be “funny”—