Films & Docs / Feature films
Good Will Hunting
A 1997 American drama in which a young man with a gift for mathematics is drawn into therapy; useful for discussing how therapy is dramatised.
Viewing note
Most films about therapy are dramatisations. They compress time, heighten conflict and are built to tell a story, so they are not representative of what therapy is usually like. Treat this work as a portrayal to think about, not as a guide to what to expect or to do.
Details
Title: Good Will Hunting
Year: 1997
Director: Gus Van Sant
Format: feature
Country: United States
Running time: 126 minutes (AFI catalogue)
What the work shows
The film follows Will Hunting, a young man who works as a cleaner at a university and has an exceptional gift for mathematics. After a court-related episode he is required to attend sessions with a therapist, Sean Maguire. The story centres on the relationship between the two men, and on Will's difficulty with trust and closeness.
The film was written by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck and is fiction. It does not claim to depict a real case.
How closely it reflects practice
In a 1998 Psychiatric Times article, psychiatrist Glen Gabbard described the therapist in the film sympathetically while criticising the depicted therapy as unrealistic. This is one critic’s assessment, not a measure of typical practice.
Questions for discussion include what the therapist shares about himself, what boundaries appear on screen and how the film compresses time. The film is fiction and has not been viewed for this draft.
Limits of this entry
The production credits are drawn from the distributor and the AFI catalogue. AFI lists a running time of 126 minutes; versions can differ. This entry does not review research on how films shape public ideas about therapy.
Sources and inspection notes
Miramax. Good Will Hunting (film record).
Supports: Title, year, director and writers as listed by the distributor.
Psychiatric Times. (1998). Psychiatry and mental illness: Are they mass media targets?
Supports: Reports psychiatrist Glen Gabbard’s 1998 comments on sympathetic therapist portrayals in Ordinary People and Good Will Hunting, and his criticism of the therapy shown in the latter. This is an individual assessment, not a consensus or empirical study.
American Film Institute. AFI Catalog: Good Will Hunting (1997).
Supports: Year, director, writers and 126-minute running time in the AFI record. Running times can vary between editions.