Psychiatric Bulletin (2007) 31: 117. doi: 10.1192/pb.bp.106.012781
© 2007 The Royal College of Psychiatrists
The Devil and Daniel Johnston (video)
Eva Cadario, Specialist Registrar in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
Department of Child and Family Psychiatry, Possilpark Health Centre,
Glasgow G22 5EG, email:
evacadario{at}hotmail.com
Director: Jeff Feuerzeig Sony pictures VHS/DVD, USA 2005, DVD £19.99,
running time 1h 50 m (12A)
This was Winner of Best Director at the Sundance Film Festival 2005 and
Winner of the Audience Award Best Documentary at the San Francisco Independent
Film Festival.
Introducing himself as suffering from manic-depressive psychosis, US
singer/songwriter Daniel Johnston, labelled ‘genius’ by his many
followers, allows this documentary to give an insight not only into his
creative output but also the destructive power that mental illness has been
having on his life.
The film’s obvious target audience will be musicians and music
lovers, which is why the psychiatrist in me watched it with some trepidation,
wondering how the fabled link between genius and madness would be portrayed.
My fears were unjustified, as it is shown that his psychosis sadly does not
enhance, but clearly inhibits Johnston’s creative potential.
The viewer gets to know the vast volume of 20 years’ worth of
artistic outpourings, comprising countless audio tapes, cartoons and home
movies. But the viewer also witnesses live performances coming to a tearful,
premature end, and sees Johnston on stage puzzling his audience with incessant
ramblings about the devil. Although for many years Johnston’s charming
and idiosyncratic songs – often played with more passion than technical
skills – have been cherished by an ever-increasing fan base, one is left
wondering what shape his career might have taken without his being unwell. On
the other hand, his art would not be what it is without the influences of his
psychotic experiences, especially his delusional preoccupation that
superheroes could rescue the world from the devil. Recommended for medical
students and anyone else wishing to refresh their memory about symptoms of
mania is the audiodiary recording of Johnston recounting these symptoms,
apparently during an acute manic episode.
The film also gives an insight into the family’s experiences of
helplessness as the illness tightened its grip on their son. Painful with
hindsight, it is possible to sympathise with their difficulty in recognising
his increasing disorganisation as anything more sinister than adolescent
non-conformity, although it is haunting to hear how a family Christmas
celebration ends with the tormented Johnston being simply sent away on a bus
rather than taken to a hospital. The now elderly parents, once hopeful that
their children would care for them in their old age, find themselves in the
position of caring for their middle-aged son who has lost his
independence.
The documentary’s focus is on Johnston’s music and visual
artwork rather than aiming to give a detailed psychiatric history or indeed
confirm a clinical diagnosis, but it highlights that in many ways these issues
are inseparable. It is a sensitive, non-judgemental and ultimately admiring
portrait of an artist and patient, a person as a whole, and as such might
perhaps unintentionally go some way to tackling stigma in society.
