I'm too young to remember the controversy caused by
Sybil (which was originally a
book) and the recognition of
Dissociative Identity Disorder/Multiple Personality Disorder. In fact, I only heard about the movie with the release of a new book,
Sybil Exposed: The Extraordinary Story Behind the Famous Multiple Personality Case. There was an
episode of Science Friday in which Ira Flatow spent I think a full hour talking to the author as well as other experts about the issue, and they got some roiling debate going. Entertaining, in a sick sort of way, to listen to.
Aside: DID/MPD have ended up in lots of other popular culture as well. If you're interested, look
here.
Anywho, the movie. Is super creepy.
Sally Field does an amazing job playing Shirley Ardell Mason, aka Sybil Dorsett. There is a happy-ish ending (which I knew from listening to
Science Friday), which makes the whole thing a little easier to take, but mostly it's a combination of sad, horrifying, and train wreck. You just can't look away.
Bottom line: fascinating, but not really in a good way.
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