# Numb- The movie



## insaticiable (Feb 23, 2010)

I was watching videos on youtube last night about ''Depersonalization'', when i came across the movie trailer for Numb. Seems like an excellent movie that touches on this condition. It's about a screenwriter who develops depersonalization, and ends up falling in love with a girl, and he tries to get better so that he can truly feel ''in love'' again. Ah, i am just really excited to rent this movie and watch it!


----------



## Guest (Mar 7, 2010)

insaticiable said:


> I was watching videos on youtube last night about ''Depersonalization'', when i came across the movie trailer for Numb. Seems like an excellent movie that touches on this condition. It's about a screenwriter who develops depersonalization, and ends up falling in love with a girl, and he tries to get better so that he can truly feel ''in love'' again. Ah, i am just really excited to rent this movie and watch it!


It was an epic failure. Matthew Perry, though he probably tried with the information he got, did NOT EVEN COME CLOSE to showing what someone with dp is like. The movies also ends with him having dp and just accepting that he has dp and might have dp for the rest of his life. There is NO hope for the dp community in that movie. All in all, it is a MAJOR disappointment. You can watch it for free on Netflix instant watch, btw.


----------



## insaticiable (Feb 23, 2010)

aww, that sucks. i was really looking forward to seeing it, but i think i will still watch it. ill let you know what i think after im done. thanks for the heads up btw.


----------



## codeblue213 (Feb 15, 2010)

I agree that it was a bad movie. The portrayal was very vague, not convincing.


----------



## pancake (Nov 26, 2009)

tinyfairypeople said:


> It was an epic failure. Matthew Perry, though he probably tried with the information he got, did NOT EVEN COME CLOSE to showing what someone with dp is like. The movies also ends with him having dp and just accepting that he has dp and might have dp for the rest of his life. There is NO hope for the dp community in that movie. All in all, it is a MAJOR disappointment. You can watch it for free on Netflix instant watch, btw.


Numb was a little formulaic for my taste and lacking in the cinematography depatment. There was of couse a token dolly zoom in the funeal scene but other than that everything was standard fair. I felt there needed to be something jarring visually, just to show the audience what is really going on. Tanation is really smart on that level. Visually choppy to the point of being nauseating and rightly so.


----------



## DiscoStick (Dec 13, 2009)

I would have preferred them to actually cover the disorder. I can't really remember what happens in the film, but I think Matthew Perry was just very blunt and distant. And of course we all know that things go a lot deeper than that—so maybe it would be better to have included some scenes of non-recognition or whatever rather than just some guy just looking a bit depressed and socially awkward.


----------



## pancake (Nov 26, 2009)

DiscoStick said:


> I would have preferred them to actually cover the disorder. I can't really remember what happens in the film, but I think Matthew Perry was just very blunt and distant. And of course we all know that things go a lot deeper than that-so maybe it would be better to have included some scenes of non-recognition or whatever rather than just some guy just looking a bit depressed and socially awkward.


I could think of a lot of films that while not dealing directly with DP/DR do give the audience a sense of uneality. DP on the other hand. Can't think of any. Can think of a book though.


----------



## pancake (Nov 26, 2009)

DiscoStick said:


> I would have preferred them to actually cover the disorder. I can't really remember what happens in the film, but I think Matthew Perry was just very blunt and distant. And of course we all know that things go a lot deeper than that-so maybe it would be better to have included some scenes of non-recognition or whatever rather than just some guy just looking a bit depressed and socially awkward.


I could think of a lot of films that while not dealing with DP as such give the viewer a sense of uneality. The rest of what DP is made up of on the other hand - can't think of any films. There is a novel does pretty well IMO though.


----------



## S O L A R I S (Dec 24, 2009)

The movie like sooooo did not portray this horrible existence. I dont think it should have been a romantic comedy, maybe a dramedy?

Something like the "United states of Tara" series that really presents dissociation but manages to relate it to everyone in the general public


----------



## pancake (Nov 26, 2009)

S O L A R I S said:


> The movie like sooooo did not portray this horrible existence. I dont think it should have been a romantic comedy, maybe a dramedy?
> 
> Something like the "United states of Tara" series that really presents dissociation but manages to relate it to everyone in the general public


I don't know, I quite like the idea of a light hearted story in the background. That way you can show that what is going on on the inside and what it looks like from the outside are two quite different things. I think Numb could have woked fine if they'd added internal dialogues and some visual effects depicting the half-arsed hallucinations DP brings. Maybe some somatosensory distortion: Tiny heads and mahusive hands.. maybe even a full blown autoscopic experiences (although, apparently only approx 15 % of ppl with DP get these): standing behind yourself, floating above, looking-on. From Dusk till Dawn & Fightclub style almost subliminal images, flickering across the screen like flashes of thoughts. Maybe some messing with the sound could do some good as well. I recently watched A Fistfull of Dollars again and the badly dubbed child never fails to make me uncomfortable. IMO in an ideal world a film about DP should be badly-dubbed so the audience experiences first-hand how jarring sensory input becomes.


----------



## Ivan Hawk (Jan 22, 2010)

I wouldn't call it an "epic" failure to be honest, but it was ok in it's own little way. It had some good aspects along with the bad.
Yeah, of course the DP isn't resolved and the movie certainly would have been much better if he "DID" find a solution, but the comedy and romance did have their moments.
The emotions were believable in some parts, and I liked how Mathew treated the condition with humor from time to time bringing light to what is generally a dark condition.

I feel a much better movie covering Depersonalization can be made using a much more accurate set of emotional stages in the entire progression of the condition. The entire experience involves a lot more than what Mathew went through and I feel it can be conveyed in greater contrast through a serious epic drama. Who better to contribute accurate information but real life suffers as well. Hell, perhaps a detailed documentary first with interviews, demonstrations, scenarios and effects that allow views to see what it is truly like.

Sense of time, sense of feeling, fatigue, blurry focus, memory, etc.


----------



## S O L A R I S (Dec 24, 2009)

I think maybe the movie could not grasp full extent of DP is because no one know what the hell this is lol, it seems to come from so many causes, depression, anxiety, drugs, trauma...etc

It would be difficult to relate a storyline to all DP sufferers. For example, my DP is anxiety/trauma induced, I did not relate to the storyline in the movie because they did not represent the inner workings/feelings/issues of mathew perry. They just compromised by saying that he had a bad experience with drugs, we dont know what made him do drugs in the first place? I am not saying that those with Drug induced DP have it easier at all, its the same condition, but behind every story is a person, a personal story, and for me to relate to something, I need to connect on a deeper level to something. That is something which was not existent in the movie.

Again, Ill go back to the United States of Tara series, I do not have DID, but the series has more themes going on than simply the multiple personalities. We get to understand the plight of those who suffer from trauma. It makes us all see the fragility and beauty of the human mind. I love that series, highly suggest you guys watch it.


----------



## sonnl (Apr 15, 2009)

The director of the movie has had DPD for almost 20 years.
I caught this movie last summer on netflix about 3 months after I got DP, in the end I didnt like it mostly just because of the negative ending depicting that he'll never find a cure for dp. For some reason, since ive seen this movie i cant watch anything with matt perry and not get depressed.


----------



## sirreal (Mar 20, 2010)

tinyfairypeople said:


> It was an epic failure. Matthew Perry, though he probably tried with the information he got, did NOT EVEN COME CLOSE to showing what someone with dp is like. The movies also ends with him having dp and just accepting that he has dp and might have dp for the rest of his life. There is NO hope for the dp community in that movie. All in all, it is a MAJOR disappointment. You can watch it for free on Netflix instant watch, btw.


People generally love it when you tell them how a movie ends.


----------



## Freya4SmilesAgain (Mar 8, 2010)

I thought it was good, its the only movie ive ever seen to talk about a subject that no1s heard of and plus Matthew Perry himself experienced either DP/DR when he was coming off drugs. So get s a thumbs up from me here


----------



## BusyBee (Aug 7, 2010)

Well Im so glad i didnt let my friends watch it! I dont think they would have had an accurate portrayal of the sheer hell im going through.

I have to admit I didnt like the trailers. They make it out like its a form of madness. I did wonder how they would prtray such as impossible thing in a film.. you just cant begin describe it til youve been there im afraid, and even then you cant describe it. What i mean is, no one can understand it unless theyve been there, themselves.


----------

