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Bookmark this pageSybil (1977)
Director: Daniel Petrie
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
This began life as a two-part TV movie (here edited down from 198 minutes) based on the true story of the eleven-year treatment by psychiatrist Cornelia Wilbur of Sybil Dorsett and her sixteen warring personalities. As Dr Wilbur, Joanne Woodward (who had herself essayed a schizophrenic role in The Three Faces of Eve back in 1957) is fascinating, because she employs a theatrical stillness around which all Sally Field’s agonised personalities flutter like trapped birds. Field herself resists the temptation to let go and ham. The result is essentially a classic two-hander: moving despite the surrounding schlock.Author: DSi
User reviews of this film
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- chris fowkes said...
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Posted on Apr 25 2011 21:18
Great acting by Sally, a long film, Harrowing in places
but she gets there in the end. - Report as inappropriate
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- Biff said...
- Posted on Dec 09 2007 20:27 I saw this film when I was about 13 and it has stayed with me. It was one of the most shocking films I had ever seen. It's always very hard to be presented with images of child cruelty, paritcularly of such a sadistic nature but somehow the exceptional cast managed to deal with the plot and actually leave you with a feeling of hope at the end.
- Report as inappropriate
Cast & crew
Director: Daniel Petrie
Producer: Jacqueline Babbin
Cast: Joanne Woodward, Sally Field, Brad Davis, Martine Bartlett, Jane Hoffman, Charles Lane, William Prince full cast
Duration: 132 mins
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