F@M!LY L!FE 1 1971

An unintended pregnancy leads to horrific psychological consequences for a teenage girl whose parents force her to get an abortion. When her family seeks counseling for her, she is directed through a mental health institution that exacerbates her problems with harsh, controversial "therapies" in this harrowing film directed by social realist filmmaker Ken Loach (LADYBIRD,LADYBIRD). FAMILY LIFE was originally produced for BBC television

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• FILM

[mkl62]

November 1, 1971.

[smikestack]

I remember how this film was criticized when it came out 40 years ago: mental health professionals said it raised issues "beyond the understanding of untrained people" and might scare or confuse them about mental illness. It illustrates some of what R.D.Laing said: that very ordinary people in very ordinary families may retreat into "illness" as a way of protecting their own sanity --- that impossible family life makes "insanity" the only sensible response.

[benhoogendijk]

This is the film that had an inpact for all of my life. The first time I saw this film was 35 years ago. I find it still hard to watch. it's of a heartbreaking sadness.

[Marillionboy]

A heartbreaking film but one I find hard to watch. Sandy Ratcliff had such a beautiful frailty about her, and that line about wanting to be a hairdresser and working in one for a while "but I just swept up and things" says everything about her. You can just picture her there can't you. Everyone acts note perfect in this film. Its interesting how obsessed the parents are with the new permissiveness of the 60s and yet the whole film seems to be set in a world light years away from it.