Popular reviews

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  Review by sakana1 ★★★ 5

  Mention of sexual assault ahead, and major spoilers in the second-to-last paragraph, the one that begins with "eventually."

  Made the same year as another, far more famous (and successful) movie about a young woman with dissociative identity disorder, Lizzie features a strong lead performance from Eleanor Parker as Elizabeth Richmond, a troubled young woman whose illness hews with admirable fidelity to the genuine causes and symptoms of the often sensationalized affliction from which she suffers.

  When we meet Elizabeth, she is plagued by headaches, insecurity, and poison pen letters from a person named "Lizzie" who mocks and threatens to kill her on a regular basis. Not surprisingly, Lizzie also exists within Elizabeth and is her polar opposite, a hard-drinking, hard-partying…

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  Review by Erin 🍺 ★★★

  DON’T YOU DARE TALK THAT WAY ABOUT BOURBON ELIZABETH 

  Could definitely have a better ending because I feel it wraps up and “cures” something that is just not that simple to do (which lets be real here, we’re never gonna get a satisfying movie about mental illness considering it’s different for everyone anyway) but holy shit Eleanor Parker KILLS her range is out of this world

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  Review by Pippin ★★★½ 1

  Lizzie is pretty outdated, but there also is a lot of understanding and empathy in this film that isn't present in others in this genre. Eleanor Parker does an excellent job in her role(s) and she never feels like she's over the top in her performance or mocking someone with mental illness.

  Joan Blondell has a great supporting role in this and works well with Parker in all of their scenes. I didn't expect that she would have a lot of screentime, but surprisingly so she did. So if you're a Blondell fan this definitely will be worth it as well.

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  Review by Alwine ★★★★

  of course it's an outdated take on what we now know as dissociative identity disorder but it felt more genuine than some recent movies that like to rely on sensationalism and unknowingly—or not, participate in the stigmatisation of dissociative disorders (i.e. split)

  on another note... joan blondell and eleanor parker! JOAN BLONDELL AND ELEANOR PARKER!

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  Review by Adriana Scarpin ★★★

  Em honra do centenário de Eleanor Parker.
  Esse filme foi eclipsado da história por conta do oscar que a Joanne Woodward ganhou por papel semelhante em As Três Máscaras de Eva, sendo que ambos não são exatamente bons filmes, porém são bem atuados. É aquela psicanálise hollywoodiana a qual sou bem avessa, se nem a Shirley Jackson gostou dessa adaptação de um livro dela, quem sou eu pra discordar?
  DVDRip no MakingOff.

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  Review by Seemoya 🦕🌷 ★★★★

  "The very least I can say of God is that doctors depend on him, often."

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  Review by ZacharyBinx ★★★ 1

  A very boilerplate mental illness/multiple personality film where finding the trauma and "curing" the patient comes a little too easily. Eleanor Parker and Joan Blondell make it worth the watch, but if you're looking a more riveting version of this story check out Sybil with the inimitable Sally Field.

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  Review by Arianna 🍀 ★★★ 1

  Released the same year as The Three Faces of Eve, Lizzie also tells the story of a young woman with 3 different personalities.

  Though the stories are different, the progression of the personalities is essentially the same as "...Eve." There is the current, weaker personality, the antagonistic hedonistic personality, and then the third final "ideal" personality that is later revealed. Unlike "...Eve" there is less focus on the actual personalities, and more on Elizabeth herself and her relationship with Dr. Wright. A lot more screentime is given to Joan Blondell's character and her flirty banter with director Hugo Haas, which was fine but because of the short runtime it eats away at the meat of the story.

  Speaking of Hugo…

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  Review by katie ★½

  Shirley Jackson’s novel The Bird’s Nest is a complex, harrowing, and darkly funny exploration of one woman’s fractured psyche and the ways she is failed by the people who try to help her heal. Hugo Haas’s Lizzie shares absolutely nothing with it except a few character names and the basic plot outline. In the book, Elizabeth Richmond has four personalities— Elizabeth, Beth, Betsy, and Bess. Jackson resists the stereotypical “good vs. evil personality” narrative, and each of these four characters is fully realized, with their own charms and flaws. Lizzie flattens it into only three personalities: Elizabeth (boring and sad), Beth (“a wonderful person,” as Dr. Wright repeats ad nauseum), and Lizzie (evil). Betsy, Lizzie’s book counterpart, is arrested in the mindset…

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  Review by hayley ★★★½

  Joan Blondell & Eleanor Parker in the same film yes please! I always enjoy Joan in her later roles purely because she had this real mature and warm vibe about her. Even though she plays a drunken aunt here I still really like her especially towards the end. As for the star of the film miss Eleanor Parker it was an absolute pleasure to see how extraordinary her rang was and being able to change her demeanour so easily. Much like I’ve praised Joan Crawford for her abilities in this domain I think Parker has a very similar ability. She can play sweet, shy and adorable but with the flick of the switch she can command your attention and be confident and empowering. Although Lizzie is a little out dated for todays standard of films about mental health I think it was a great vehicle for Parker to shine in.

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  Review by friedgreengibbs

  It’s heart is in the right place but I’d say the only things that make it worth a watch are Eleanor Parker and Joan Blondell. They’re both terrific and help elevate the melodramatic - at times shockingly upsetting - script. It does take advantage of Parker’s range well. I wish there had been a little more closure… the movie ends kind of abruptly and I dunno, it would've been nice to see Elizabeth finally get to be friends with her colleagues.

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  Review by Alternate Feed ★★

  Lizzie is a sub-standard pop psychology investigation into mental illness. Not only psychological scholarship itself (consider Freudianism and its offshoot theories of “recovered memory” and “dissociative identity”, both explored herein), but also literature and the stage, have exploited psychological maladies and their sufferers for cheap dramatic thrills, and so it’s no surprise that Hollywood should follow suit; even Hitchcock was guilty on several occasions. A young woman contends with self-hatred and mental illness, while her loving if limited alcoholic aunt is in over her head. My charitable guess is that director Hugo Haas means well, but this etch-a-sketched B-movie really feels exploitative and trivializing.