Sybil (2007 film)
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by Flora Rheta Schreiber
Tammy Blanchard
| Sybil | |
|---|---|
.jpg) | |
| Based on | Sybil by Flora Rheta Schreiber |
| Written by | John Pielmeier |
| Directed by | Joseph Sargent |
| Starring | Jessica Lange Tammy Blanchard |
| Music by | Charles Bernstein |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| Production | |
| Executive producers | Norman Stephens Mark Wolper |
| Producer | Michael Mahoney |
| Cinematography | Donald M. Morgan |
| Editor | Mike Brown |
| Running time | 89 minutes |
| Production companies | Warner Bros. Television Wolper Organization |
| Original release | |
| Network | CBS |
| Release | June 7, 2008 |
Sybil is a 2007 American made-for-television drama film directed by Joseph Sargent, and written by John Pielmeier, based on the 1973 book Sybil by Flora Rheta Schreiber, which fictionalized the story of Shirley Ardell Mason, who was diagnosed with multiple personality disorder (more commonly known then as "split personality", now called dissociative identity disorder). This is the second adaptation of the book, following the Emmy Award-winning 1976 mini-series Sybil that was broadcast by NBC. The university scenes were filmed at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia.
In January 2006, The Hollywood Reporter announced CBS had greenlit the project,[1] but it was shelved after completion. The film was released in Italy, New Zealand, the Dominican Republic, Brazil, Norway and Hungary before finally being broadcast in the US by CBS on June 7, 2008.
Troubled Columbia University art student and later student teacher Sybil Dorsett is referred to psychiatrist Cornelia Wilbur by Dr. Atcheson, a colleague who believes that the young woman is suffering from female hysteria. As her treatment progresses, Sybil confesses that she frequently experiences blackouts and cannot account for large blocks of time. Wilbur helps her recall a childhood in which she suffered physical, emotional, and sexual abuse at the hands of her disturbed mother Hattie.
Eventually, 16 identities varying in age and personal traits begin to emerge. Chief among them is Victoria, a French woman who explains to Dr. Wilbur how she shepherds the many parts of Sybil's whole. Frustrating the therapist are objections raised by her associates, who suspect she has influenced her patient into creating her other selves, and Sybil's father Willard, who refuses to admit his late wife Hattie was anything other than a loving mother.
Although she had promised never to hypnotize Sybil, later into the treatment, Dr. Wilbur takes her patient to her home by a lake and hypnotizes her into having all 16 personalities be the same age as she and become just aspects of Sybil. By nightfall, Sybil claims she feels different, and emotionally declares her hatred toward Hattie.
The last part of the movie tells of the history of Shirley Ardell Mason, the real woman who was known by the pseudonym of Sybil Dorsett.
Principal cast
- Jessica Lange as Dr. Cornelia Wilbur
- Tammy Blanchard as Sybil Dorsett
- Alison Murray as Young Sybil Dorsett
- JoBeth Williams as Hattie Dorsett
- Fab Filippo as Ramon
- Brian Downey as Willard Dorsett