Hide and Seek (2005) Psycho – Thriller

Hide and Seek (2005) Psycho – Thriller

A media example of a split personality disorder

Film Summary:

After the apparent suicide of mother Allison (Amy Irving), psychologist Dr. David Callaway (Robert De Niro) and his daughter Emily (Dakota Fanning), with whom he shares a troubled relationship, move to a new home to hopefully have a fresh start. A family friend, Dr. Katherine Carson, a fellow psychologist, visits David and Emily to try to help David and talks to Emily about her obsession with Charlie, her only new (and imaginary) friend. Over time, odd events start to happen in the house: among other things, late at night David finds angry messages written on the wall directed at David: in addition, the family cat is drowned in the tub, and his friend Elizabeth is murdered but he naturally assumes Emily is the culprit, but she frequently denies any participation, blaming it on Charlie. By the end of the film it is established that David has a split personality and that Charlie is not imaginary at all: Charlie in reality is David. Whenever it appeared David was in his study, Charlie was actually in control. David also realizes that under his Charlie personality, he murdered his wife and made it appear to be a suicide. He also fully recalls the events of the party the night before his wife's murder, where he had caught his wife cheating on him, which triggered David's identity disorder.

At the end of the film Charlie pretends to be David, admits he, not Emily, is sick, then proceeds to viciously attack Katherine. As Charlie threatens Emily, Katherine manages to kill him after saying "Hide and seek". Sometime later, Emily is preparing for school in her new life with Katherine. However, Emily's drawing of herself with Katherine has two heads, suggesting that she now also suffers from a split personality.

A Common Criticism of the film:

Hide and Seek is a film that was released in 2005, and is a Psycho-thriller, however it is not made clear till the end of the film that Robert De Niro is Charlie, a man suffering from Split personality disorder – this is a very common mistake; that the little girl was the one with the illness or that Charlie is a ghost, due to the fact the plot is quite vague up until the ending, or that a respected man with a good job couldn’t possibly have a mental illness and a young girl whose mother just died is a far more fitting. However many people who watch the film do not know the underlying stigmas. De Niro’s other personality; Charlie is a polar opposite: murderer, violent, malicious man. This is often the assumption of the disorder in real life situations. Another underlying stigma is the misconception between Schizophrenia and Split personality disorder. Many people with Schizophrenia are thought to have a split personality. When the film is ever brought up, many people always say something along the lines of “Oh, is that the film where Robert De Niro has Schizophrenia or something.” Without realising, people stereotype Schizophrenia as a split personality disorder.

This film further helps stereotyping of mental illnesses to be a social norm. That is not to say this film is bad or promotes stigmatizing. But De Niro’s character is given an extreme and stereotypical version of someone with split personality disorder, which is often confused as Schizophrenia. Therefore, it is another media example of a psychological disorder that some people may see and can adapt the views from it into their lives.