Movies that deal with Manipulation?

Brid Hegarty

Can anyone recommend something along these lines? For example 'Training Day' or 'Matchstick Men'

silverharp

Nightcrawler was the film that popped into my head

Whiplash

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2582802/

Brid Hegarty

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117875543#Comment_117875543

Oh yes. That was a good one. That poor 'intern' was manipulated.

Did you smash it

The usual suspects or seven

~Rebel~

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058208291/movies-that-deal-with-manipulation

Danny Boyle’s ‘Trance’, and Chris Nolan’s ‘Memento’. Also that Will Smith movie ‘Focus’ has a lot of elements of it.

A different type of manipulation, but the recent Invisible Man is pretty much built around extreme gaslighting.

FortuneChip

Most mass-produced romantic comedies.

Capt'n Midnight

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117880437#Comment_117880437

Not just comedies

Passengers

Spoiler Warning

Aurora Lane: He woke me up! He took away my life!

Gus Mancuso: I know, and I'm sorry, but there's work I'd like...

Aurora Lane: It's murder!

Gus Mancuso: You're right, Aurora.

The Manchurian Candidate

Brid Hegarty

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117880196#Comment_117880196

Yeah I haven't seen 'Invisible Man' or 'Trance'. Momento is one of those movies that no matter how hard you think about it, there's no way of figuring it out. There's too many of those already; whether it be 'American Psycho', 'Basic Instinct'.

What was it again with the ending of Momento? If I remember right he ends up killing the wrong guy just so that he can trick himself into thinking that he finally got revenge. He knows his memory is only 2 minutes or so, so that way he can lie to himself.

~Rebel~

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117882008#Comment_117882008

Yeah, it's been a wee while since i've seen it myself, but it's something along those lines. And other people take advantage of his 'gold-fishing' to manipulate him to their own ends too.

Invisible Man was really brilliant, absolutely blew me away to be honest - a really great reinvention of the idea to explore something much more interesting and important. Elisabeth Moss is incredible in it too. Horror movies never tend to get nominations for things, but I'd have definitely had her performance up for best actress Oscar.

JP Liz V1

Dangerous Liaisons and Cruel Intentions

Brid Hegarty

'Disclosure' is another one, starring Michael Douglas and Demi Moore. Very under-rated.

S.M.B.

Compliance is a gruelling 90 minutes of multiple levels of manipulation from what I remember.

Brid Hegarty

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117880765#Comment_117880765

Is it? I mean I guess brain washing could be considered manipulation but it's not the sort of manipulation that we encounter on a daily basis. I tried watching it (2002 version), but it's too far fetched for me... even if it is based on real events.

bodhrandude

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117885295#Comment_117885295

Agree, its absolutely shocking, worth seeing and based on a true story.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compliance_%28film%29

Capt'n Midnight

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117916880#Comment_117916880

Watch the original made during the cold war. Much, much better. The remake is just a cash grab trading on the name.

growleaves

The Servant

Brid Hegarty

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117931366#Comment_117931366

Yeah, that fake cop applied what you could call the 'yes ladder'. Terrible music though in the scene where the manager went to her car!

bodhrandude

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117934676#Comment_117934676

And of course Aunt Lydia from Handmaid's Tale in a completely different role.

TaSeThat

Have to say The Assistant. Cracking movie but you can see parallel situations with Hollywood's allegations for the last couple of years. A brilliant under-the-radar-movie but not for everyone as it is a slow burner.

Brid Hegarty

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117875594#Comment_117875594

Definitely worth a watch. It was a good movie but it had a disappointing ending in that the drummer never saw the light. Up until the very end the drummer still cared about whether the teacher approved of him or not. The movie never presented a proper argument against the justification that abusive instructor gave for giving his abuse. I can only imagine so many people watched the movie and agreed with the instructor's point of view.

It's hard to know what we're supposed to take from the very last scene. What's the moral of the story? That you can't do an awesome drums solo unless your hands bleed? Or that no matter how much you practice drums, you'll still never be able to wing a song that you haven't played before? All those hours of solitude and he can't take a stab at a song that he hasn't seen before? And why would the instructor set up the drummer to look like a fool on stage, by presenting a different song... and risk ruining his own reputation? In that last scene for all we know the instructor only pretends to be pleased so that he'll stop with the crazy antics on stage. And the audience never applauded the (very very long) drums solo. All it was to me anyway was a load of noise.

Brid Hegarty

'Body Heat' with William Hurt and 'Birthday Girl' with Nicole Kidman. Both movies deal with men being manipulated through seduction.

Tefral

MR Brooks. Great Movie

CatFromHue

Its a few years old now but Primal Fear with Ed Norton and Richard Gere is one

JP Liz V1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117985865#Comment_117985865

Impressive debut from Norton

Did you smash it

Snowtown is another movie, based on a true story, dealing with master manipulation.

It’s a true story of Australian’s worst ever serial killer.

Brid Hegarty

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117985865#Comment_117985865

I remember considering watching that before. The advert didn't really seem to suggest that there was too much manipulation going on! Who's manipulating who in it?

Double Indemnity. Barbara Stanwyck really does Fred MacMurray up like a kipper .. Strangers On A Train another good one - Farley Granger's guileness and naive character never had much of a chance up against the captivating psycho played by Robert Walker.

The Perfection, not sure if it's still on Netflix but it's definitely worth a watch. Gone Girl was very good too I thought. Both have good female characters, bit of a twist to the normal narrative, mix of psychological horror with a bit of gore too.

Pacific Heights with Michael Keaton as the antagonist , and Matthew Modine and Melanie Griffith as the victims... Great performance from Keaton, and his character is a right manipulating sob who's completely in control of all the chaos - until the Hollywood denouement 😂

Lakeview Terrace (a later movie) with Samuel L Jackson is a similar movie to the above

flasher0030

Sleeping with the Enemy with Julia Roberts and Patrick Bergin would be the ultimate manipulation for me.

Fred Astaire

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117985713#Comment_117985713

If you think that the movie fails because Neiman 'didn't see the light'(?) regarding Fletcher - whatever the light means - then I can only assume you weren't paying much attention.

As for your second paragraph - what do you mean by the moral of the story? Whiplash isn't a fairytale, or a story from Alive-O, it's a bit more nuanced than that.

And the other nitpicks? It's hard to take them seriously. It's entirely plausible for Neiman to be panicked by Fletcher sabotaging him, and not being able to play along with an elite level crew. I seriously doubt that Fletchers reputation which was built over the span of decades would have been ruined by one drummer being off with his performance for a few minutes.

I don't know how you could assume anything other than Fletcher has found the perfect student in Neiman, who is willing to push himself further than virtually all other people - and he realises that during the final performance and tries to start guiding him through it. They are a perfect match for each other. Almost Michael Jordan-esque in the obsessiveness required to be the best.

I don't think the audience needed to applaud to understand that Neiman had put in a performance of a lifetime.

I'm sorry - I just cannot believe that someone could be so off the mark with commentary or nitpicks.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117985865#Comment_117985865

Brilliant movie

The Machinist, sort of manipulating himself. Great colouring and lighting

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117916880#Comment_117916880

Watch the original with Frank Sinatra. It is way superior to the remake. In fairness the thread is movies that deal with manipulation?, not movies that deal with everyday manipulation. How more manipulative could you get than brainwashing? Note I do not mean that in a snotty way

EDIT Just realised you are the OP so I guess your definition goes!

Diam M For Murder

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118025283#Comment_118025283

Primal Fear on tonight 9.45 RTÉ 2

Brid Hegarty

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118023432#Comment_118023432

Oh how nice of Fletcher to guide him when he's not trying to sabotage him. Neiman's more like the 'perfect slave' than the perfect student. Perfect for Fletcher maybe... that is if he doesn't end up getting killed on his way to a performance! But would he be the perfect student for you? or your average teacher? And do you think you could get more out of him by a different form of nurture. But I think that question is missing the point anyway.

"whatever the light means - then I can only assume you weren't paying much attention."

Knock it off... you know exactly what I mean. Neiman continues to chase after the approval that he can never get. At least Michael Jordan achieved something. All this guy managed to do was lose all his friends, crash a car, and make a fool out of himself on stage. It's an abusive relationship... it's no 'match'.

"I seriously doubt that Fletchers reputation which was built over the span of decades would have been ruined by one drummer being off with his performance for a few minutes."

Well yes and no. But why would he risk it? Was it that important to him to fcuk with Neiman? If that were my first time at a Fletcher concert and I witnessed that, I wouldn't be going to another.

Do you think the best way to motivate someone is by using fear? Because Fletcher has obviously gotten it into his head that fear is a better motivator than inspiration. Fear might work for some... especially if the person is naive, but I don't think that method would work for most people. Fletcher keeps making reference to some famous drummer who he claimed only became big because someone throw a symbol at his head... and then uses this as a rationalisation to bully his students. I'm not surprised that that story about the symbol isn't even true, because that's not how people become successful.

It's left to the imagination as to whether Fletcher would be willing to be subjected to such treatment himself, but my guess is no way in hell. Of course the movie doesn't address this question, but don't believe that a person like Fletcher could commit to behaving in such a way without getting off on the power and the mind games. 

Yes in a fairytale the bad guy loses in the end. But I wasn't necessarily hoping for Fletcher to lose. I was just hoping Neiman would stop chasing after his approval. He doesn't, and therefore doesn't develop as a character. The audience might get that such a drum solo is hard to do, but I don't really know if they enjoyed it. I really didn't know what the director wanted me to feel during that drum solo scene. Maybe the director should have had the audience give some sort of reaction if we were supposed to be happy for him.

I still don't know whether you're disgusted by Fletcher's behaviour or not. The movie only reveals Fletcher view point. The only argument made against Fletcher was a pitiful "but isn't there a line that you shouldn't cross?" remark. So it might leave some viewers agreeing with Fletcher and thinking that anyone is disgusted by him just "doesn't get it".

Whestsidestory

Vertigo

Brid Hegarty

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118026298#Comment_118026298

I watched about 40 minutes of that and it bored the hole off me. Does it get good?

Whestsidestory

Well for me Vertigo is a great movie, obviously of it's time but a film with great depth.

One Flew Over The Cuckoo's nest...the whole movie is about manipulation.

Mc Murphy trying to manipulate the justice system though Nurse Ratched...she's the real manipulative one in the film. Manipulating all of her patients. Evil manipulative bitch. Total control freak. The actress was great. Great choice. The recent Ratched series was alright but it wasn't 'Nurse Ratched'. I took it as a totally different story. Didn't relate the two at all!

Nurse Ratched used a lot of non verbal manipulation/communication that I don't think the newer series got...the other actress could not portray it in the same way I.e ...there ya go..shivers down your spine...

Sure haven't we all been the target of that look at some stage and thought to ourselves..'mmmmm juicy fruit' lol take that whatever way you want lol...

Brid Hegarty

Oh I nearly forgot; The Truman Show. And maybe 'The Shape of Things' which I have yet to watch.

A2LUE42

Arlington Road

SimonTemplar

I haven't seen it yet myself (it is on my watchlist) but I believe Ingrid Bergman's Gaslight deals with manipulation hence the modern term 'gaslighting'.

mistersifter

The Devil's Advocate

Ryath

Oldboy

^^^^

😁 Saw the American remake recently with Josh Brolin... That last scene (well, the one before he returns to familiar surrounds) ... 😂 !

mistersifter

Trading Places for a comic take on manipulation of people and the stock market.