what are good films/documentaries on ED's?

[VALIS]

I would have put this on the "reviews" board but this is a pretty specific genre.

i came across a documentary called "thin" on the internet (dailymotion.com and the user who posted it was called thinisabelle). It was an HBO special following some girls in a florida eating disorder treatment facility. Pretty informative stuff although they dwelled on this one clique of girls that formed for too long. but still interesting.

i would like to see more films or shows about anorexia/bulimia and other ED's. I found that this movie gave me some perspective about my own dysmorphia and obsession. I also saw an episode of "Intervention" that had a girl with the worst case of bulimia I've ever heard about.

Just recommending the film and asking if you guys/girls have any other films or even books to recommend.

 

[shades]

There is a plethora of information on all ED's at Wikipedia.com with dozens of links for specific disorders.

 

[blue shoes]

I saw Thin, and I didn't like it. They should have focused on some of the more genuine, sicker patients, because people need to realize just how dangerous anorexia is. And there was such a message indeed, but it didn't get through well enough imo.

The most shocking ED case [anorexia nervosa] I saw was that of a woman called Rudine. Go to youtube and write "A Warning from Beyond the Grave". Note that it could be triggering.

 

[Little_me]

A Dr Phil episode called "Deadly Thin". I think it's the most shocking of all "documentaries" as Amiee Moore is the worst case Dr Phil has ever seen.
Moore weighs 60 pounds and is throwing up 150 times a day. It's so sad.
Note that it could be triggering for some...

 

[wheresmysheep]

there are a few A&E interventions on ED's you can get them on you tube.
---WARNING MAY TRIGGER---
Kim's story
Annie & Amy's story
Emily's story

These story's are harsh and are hard to watch, please be safe watching them

 

[NothingThereAllAlong]

Try searching youtube.

 

[VALIS]

the beyond the grave one is pretty sad, especially the way she'd improve and then relapse...again and again... oh and how she saw food as just a number of calories, it was kind of funny/sad because Oprah said "banana" and the woman said "100" and then Oprah said "french fries" and the lady said "220" and i got the intense impulse to run through my own calorie mental encyclopedia to figure out what serving size gives you 220 of french fries... small size at Mc Donald's... I'm such a calorie counter.

going to check out the dr. phil one and the others when i have the time...

thanks for the rec's

 

[Little_me]

the beyond the grave one is pretty sad, especially the way she'd improve and then relapse...again and again... oh and how she saw food as just a number of calories, it was kind of funny/sad because Oprah said "banana" and the woman said "100" and then Oprah said "french fries" and the lady said "220" and i got the intense impulse to run through my own calorie mental encyclopedia to figure out what serving size gives you 220 of french fries... small size at Mc Donald's... I'm such a calorie counter.

going to check out the dr. phil one and the others when i have the time...

thanks for the rec's

I'm a counter too. I remember when I was hospitalized, the nurse asked me about it. "Potatoes?" -"120!", "orange juice?" -"100!", "chocolate?" -"545!", "meatballs?" -"240!!" and so on... :sad:

 

[Carcinogen]

Sharing the Secret was pretty good for bulimia.
Life is Sweet was quite different.

All the anorexia ones I've seen (Perfect Body, A Secret Between Friends, For The Love of Nancy) were pretty same-y, and didn't really address the issues.

Which intervention was the worst case of bulimia you've seen? Was it Salina or Jessie, or another one?

 

[plates]

i thought thin was good because it didn't focus on the physical spectacle/assumptions that people with eating disorders are emaciated/with hair falling out and no teeth. i thought all of the people there were in hell, and was glad to see people of all different sizes and shapes as well as the filmmaker focusing on families. i remember one mother with a 15 year old daughter who had such a severe eating disorder which she supported her child in having from young, and it was the 15 yr old who was in hospital with medical complications

i only wish there was an ED clinic like that in the UK. here, it's like....a tiny tiny basement, outpatient and inpatient girls running frantically around each other and only people who are fit certain criteria of being 5 days away from death (not suicide) are admitted to inpatient. i live in London btw

a lot of the programmes on EDs i've seen have really irritated me but i did like thin because it didn't focus too much on what is commonly perceived anorexia/bulimia and the huge focus on weight.

 

[plates]

Life is Sweet was quite different.

I love this film!!!! Are you talking about the film focusing on this family in N. London? The girl with the glasses who rants to her sister YOU CAPITALIST! I loved the bit when her boyfriend called her a 'bit vacant' too. I just love this film.

I always notice though, that girls with bulimia in films always have a chained suitcase hidden under their bed with loads of choccy bars. I noticed that in Neighbours when i was younger too:unsure:. But this film, if we are talking about the same one, is really beautiful, not only because of the girl with bulimia (that really wasn't the focus for me) but because it's a beautiful funny tragic well made film and the mother reminds me of my own.

 

[blue shoes]

Some ED themed movies I saw: Dying to Dance; Hungerpoint; and one more that I don't remember the title of, will get back with it if I remember. (about bulimia; it's with a blond actress that I mainly saw in cheap horror movies)

Also "Center Stage" has a ballerina who has bulimia, but it's not the main theme of the movie.

 

[Carcinogen]

ggg456: Yes, we are talking about the same film. It had so much going on, and it just wasn't anything like all the other films I've seen. I also liked that it focused on a different class, since normally they just pay attention to the upper middle class. They were so accurate about the way they were not talking about their feelings, but they were all just doing their best to deal with everything. And just the right balance of comedy and tragedy, and enough non-ED stuff to make it really interesting.

Anyway, also there is a lifetime movie called Kate's Secret which I have seen bits of, but not the whole film. It's focused on bulimia.

 

[VALIS]

Which intervention was the worst case of bulimia you've seen? Was it Salina or Jessie, or another one?

I think ive seen both salina and jessie- the one that sticks in my mind was that pretty girl taking her vomit out to garbage bins once a week after hiding it in large freezer bags in her closet.

i think the jessie episode had to do with her eating so much that she had to work as a stripper to make 600 dollars a night to afford her binges...so expensive it's like a drug addiction that makes you do bad things in secret...

 

[plates]

There's a woman in 'Happiness' who has binge eating disorder. But all the characters in there have some 'disorder' or something, it's normal and every day and the film's all about interaction and the small worlds each one live in and how they connect

She isn't the focus and the film isn't about her eating. Mainly she's highlights men's fear of being destroyed by female hunger/sexuality. (and i think she chopped her rapists body and put it into her fridge, i can't remember, but she disclosed this to a man while eating icecream).

 

[VALIS]

I loved that movie, ggg. so sad when everything falls apart, like in requiem for a dream.

 

[plates]

these two sisters didn't have an eating disorder but when i watched it i related a lot of emotional struggles they went through with my experiences of eating disorders and the people that i've known.

'sweetie' by jane campion. there are these two sisters, one is very uptight, controlled (has a big control issue), the other, is very instinctive, and a lot more shapely, and (is a lot like me) in that she seems to be drunk/high alot of the time and has a lot of sex etc. i think she finally kills herself, she falls off a tree house when she was upset as she is the scapegoat of the family and gets into a lot of trouble - but she was a lot more happier and enjoys life, than her miserable sister who punishes her ( a bit like punitive measures when you throw up or punish yourself for eating). one sister was the punisher, the other one just enjoyed to eat, feel and have sex and act very instinctively.

when i saw it, it reminded me of the tension between anorexia/bulimia and BED, the shame of being alive, feeling and eating. the two sisters didn't show that they had an ED but it was the emotional undertones and family dynamics that reminded me of eating disorders.

 

[plates]

I loved that movie, ggg. so sad when everything falls apart, like in requiem for a dream.

:smile: i haven't seen requiem for a dream but i'll put it on my list. happiness is really wonderful, it's like listening to so many people in a big block of flats, passing each other and not knowing how to talk. one scene that i always remember is the old couple in the holiday resort, i always remember the colour of the walls there, and the building. it reminds me of this book i read with a very similar scene.

 

[Little_me]

Check out the Kendall twins- Samantha and Michaela. They both died from anorexia (well, one died from suicide but that was indirectly caused by the anorexia)