Psychological drama in the context of "Revisionist Western"

In Shakespeare studies, the problem plays are plays written by William Shakespeare that are characterised by their complex and ambiguous tone, which shifts violently between more straightforward comic material and dark, psychological drama. Shakespeare's problem plays eschew the traditional trappings of both comedy and tragedy, and are sometimes cited as early predecessors to the tragicomedy.

The term was coined by critic F. S. Boas in Shakespeare and His Predecessors (1896). Boas' use of the phrase was derived from a type of drama that was popular at the time of his writing, most commonly associated with the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. In these problem plays, the situation faced by the protagonist is put forward by the author as a representative instance of a contemporary social problem. The term can refer to the subject matter of the play, or to a classification "problem" with the plays themselves.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is a 2004 American romantic drama film directed by Michel Gondry and written by Charlie Kaufman from a story by Gondry, Kaufman, and Pierre Bismuth. It stars Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet as a couple who undergo memory erasure after they break up. Kirsten Dunst, Mark Ruffalo, Elijah Wood and Tom Wilkinson appear in supporting roles. The title of the film is a quotation from the 1717 poem Eloisa to Abelard by Alexander Pope. It uses elements of psychological drama and science fiction and a nonlinear narrative to explore the nature of memory and love.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind opened in theaters in the United States on March 19, 2004, to widespread acclaim from critics, who praised the script and direction. The film was a box office success, grossing $74 million on a $20 million budget, and was named by the American Film Institute one of the Top 10 Films of 2004. At the 77th Academy Awards, Bismuth, Gondry and Kaufman won Best Original Screenplay, and Winslet received a nomination for Best Actress.

The Sea Inside (Spanish: Mar adentro) is a 2004 psychological drama film co-written and directed by Alejandro Amenábar, who also co-produced, scored and edited. It is based on the real-life story of Ramón Sampedro (played by Javier Bardem), who was left quadriplegic after a diving accident, and his 28-year campaign in support of euthanasia and the right to end his life. The film won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and won the Grand Jury Prize at the 61st Venice International Film Festival.

Psychological thriller is a genre combining the thriller and psychological fiction genres. It is commonly used to describe literature or films that deal with psychological narratives in a thriller or thrilling setting.

In terms of context and convention, it is a subgenre of the broader ranging thriller narrative structure, with similarities to Gothic and detective fiction in the sense of sometimes having a "dissolving sense of reality". It is often told through the viewpoint of psychologically stressed characters, revealing their distorted mental perceptions and focusing on the complex and often tortured relationships between obsessive and pathological characters. Psychological thrillers often incorporate elements of mystery, drama, action, and paranoia. The genre overlaps with the psychological drama and psychological horror genres, the latter generally involving more horror and terror elements and themes and more disturbing or frightening scenarios.

Martin Scorsese is an American filmmaker who has received several awards over his six decade long career, including an Academy Award, four BAFTA Awards, three Emmy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards and a Grammy Award.

Chronicling his achievements in the film industry, the acclaimed filmmaker has received ten nominations for the Academy Award for Best Director, one more than Steven Spielberg, making him the most-nominated living director, second all-time only to William Wyler (12 nominations). He has won the Academy Award once, for the crime thriller The Departed (2006). Ten of Scorsese's films have been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture: the psychological drama Taxi Driver (1976), the sports drama Raging Bull (1980), the mobster film Goodfellas (1990), the drama Gangs of New York (2002), the historical epic The Aviator (2004), the crime thriller The Departed (2006), the children's adventure Hugo (2011), the crime comedy-dramaThe Wolf of Wall Street (2013), the mobster epic The Irishman (2019), and the western crime epic Killers of the Flower Moon (2023).

The Hours is a 2002 psychological period drama film directed by Stephen Daldry from a screenplay by David Hare, based on the 1998 novel by Michael Cunningham. It stars Nicole Kidman, Julianne Moore, and Meryl Streep as three women whose lives are connected by Virginia Woolf's 1925 novel Mrs Dalloway. In 2001 New York, Clarissa Vaughan (Streep) prepares an award party for her AIDS-stricken friend and poet, Richard (Ed Harris). In 1951 California, Laura Brown (Moore) is a pregnant housewife in an unhappy marriage. In 1920s England, Virginia Woolf (Kidman) battles with depression while writing Mrs Dalloway. Supporting roles are played by Ed Harris, John C. Reilly, Stephen Dillane, Jeff Daniels, Miranda Richardson, Allison Janney, Toni Collette, Claire Danes, and Eileen Atkins.

The Hours premiered in Los Angeles and New York City on Christmas Day 2002 and was given a limited release in the United States two days later, before expanding in January 2003. A commercial success, it grossed $108 million on a $25 million production budget, and received generally favorable reviews with praise towards the performances of the lead trio. At the 75th Academy Awards, it received nine nominations, including Best Picture, with Kidman winning Best Actress. The film and novel were adapted into an opera in 2022.

Notes on a Scandal is a 2006 British psychological drama thriller directed by Richard Eyre and produced by Robert Fox and Scott Rudin. Adapted from the 2003 novel by Zoë Heller, the screenplay was written by Patrick Marber. The film stars Judi Dench, Cate Blanchett, and Bill Nighy, and centres on a lonely veteran teacher who uncovers a fellow teacher's illicit affair with an underage student.

The film received positive reviews from critics, with Dench and Blanchett's performances receiving widespread critical acclaim and Marber's screenplay being particularly lauded. The film also emerged as a major commercial success at the box-office, grossing $50.6 million worldwide.