Sybil (film)
Encyclopedia
Sybil is a 1976 drama film
that originally aired as a made-for-television
miniseries
. It was based on the book of the same name
.
starred in the title role, with Joanne Woodward
playing the part of Sybil's psychiatrist
, Cornelia B. Wilbur
. Woodword herself had starred in The Three Faces of Eve
, in which she portrayed a woman with 3 personalities, winning the Academy Award for Best Actress
for the role. Based on the book Sybil
by Flora Rheta Schreiber
, the movie dramatizes the life of a shy young graduate student, Sybil Dorsett (in real life, Shirley Ardell Mason
), suffering from dissociative identity disorder
as a result of the psychological trauma
she suffered as a child. With the help of her psychiatrist, Sybil gradually recalls the severe child abuse
that led to the development of 13 different personalities. Field's portrayal of Sybil won much critical acclaim, as well as an Emmy Award
.
Male Personalities:
who is employed as a substitute teacher while she works on her M.A. degree
. She has periodic blackouts that last anywhere from a few minutes to a few years. An episode that began in front of her young students in a park, ended several hours later in Sybil's apartment with her wrist cut, and a drawing of a swinging light bulb on her artist easel.
Sybil ends up in a clinic. Dr. Cornelia Wilbur (Joanne Woodward
) is called in to give Sybil a neurological examination
. Sybil has tunnel vision
and is talking like a small child. During the smell test, Sybil is visibly disturbed at the scent of disinfectant. In Dr. Wilbur's clinic office, Sybil has a blackout. Sybil admits to having blackouts and fears they are getting worse. Dr. Wilbur theorizes that the incidents are a kind of hysteria, all related to a deeper problem. She asks Sybil to return at a later date for more counseling.
), who has moved to Chicago
, is in town on his honeymoon with his new bride Freida (Jane Hoffman). At a lunch in a museum cafeteria, Sybil tries to explain her illness and the visit to Dr. Wilbur. Her father belongs to a religion that does not believe in "practitioners of the mind" and begins quoting Scripture to Sybil. She loses control and runs out of the museum. Sybil awakes in her own bed, trying to drown out her mother's voice in her head, and the memories of the past few days.
. Dr. Wilbur rescues Sybil, who denies knowing Vickie. The personality of 9-year-old Peggy emerges, babbling about "the white house", screaming "I have to get out". Peggy is remembering Dr. Quinoness and others in white coats in a white room, holding her down to administer ether
for a tonsillectomy
. She's terrified of her mother and begs a nice young doctor to take her home with him so she can be his little girl. As the nice doctor is leaving she bangs on the window. Sybil puts her hand through the hotel room window.
), her neighbor in the next building whose window faces hers, have been observing each other curiously. As Sybil is walking down the street, Richard invites her to take a horse carriage ride in the tourist rig he drives during the daytime. He says he's noticed her painting at night and playing with dolls, and she denies she does that. The personality of Vickie emerges, speaks in French and tells him about her spoiled life in France
. Richard accepts it as part of her charm.
. Vickie explains that Sybil's alter personalities keep the memories that Sybil is unable to handle. Dr. Wilbur asks Vickie who the other personalities are. Vickie says Marcia is going to kill Sybil someday. One of the personalities plays the piano, but Vickie will not tell her name. Marcia shows up for the next appointment (not shown, but discussed in a voice-over by Dr. Wilbur), saying she is the one who tried to kill Sybil at the hotel. In Dr. Wilbur's voice-over, she discusses also the pictures Marcia has drawn illustrating scenes from her nightmares. All the personalities allow Dr. Wilbur to photograph them.
, who is a young boy she knew when they were kids.
Sybil and Richard and his son Matthew have Christmas dinner together, with Richard spending the night in Sybil's apartment. Sybil awakes in the middle of a nightmare and babbles about Dr. Wilbur. Richard panics and calls Dr. Wilbur who warns him about the multiple personalities. Dr. Wilbur arrives to find Richard has just rescued Sybil from an attempt to jump off the roof. While Dr. Wilbur sedates Sybil, she babbles about being in love with Richard. Sybil comes home one day and sees Richard's apartment is empty. Sybil feels deserted.
While on a lecture tour to Chicago, Dr. Wilbur talks to Willard Dorsett who admits to knowledge of "a bruise or two—from time to time", but denies his late wife Hattie inflicted them. He mentions that he once had Hattie examined by a psychiatrist, who diagnosed her with Paranoid schizophrenia, but says the doctors were wrong.
Dr. Wilbur drives to Willow Corners and asks a tractor farmer (Gordon Jump
) how to find Dr. Quinoness (Charles Lane
), who pulls Sybil's records which confirms all the injuries. Dr. Quinoness gives Dr. Wilbur a frightening account of extensive scar tissue he found while examining Sybil for a bladder problem, knowing the whole time that the only way it could be caused is from abuse. He is beset with guilt for not having taken action to protect Sybil from abuse.
In the big white house, Dr. Wilbur visits the green kitchen with its swinging light bulb, just like drawn in the pictures. She goes to the barn and finds the wheat bin with the purple crayon scratches inside. Dr. Wilbur takes the piece of wood with the purple crayon scratches back to New York to show Sybil all those things really happened.
For memory healing, Dr. Wilbur drives Sybil back to Willow Corners. While sitting outdoors beneath a tree painting, Peggy emerges and remembers how every morning in the green kitchen her mother tied her feet spreadeagle
to a broom handle and hoisted her feet-up to the light to give her a cold water disinfectant enema. She also hurt her private parts with knives and Button hooks to teach her what men do with women when they grow up. As Peggy is confessing, the doctor hears other things that the mom did to her such as burn her hands with an iron, stick her hands in the oven and turn the gas on, stick a flashlight inside her, etc. Then, Peggy tells the doctor that her mom would tie Sybil to the piano and play Dvorák
making Sybil hold her water (from the enema) until the very last note is played.
Dr. Wilbur hypnotizes Sybil to introduce her to all her other 13 selves so that she may become whole again. This is the final emancipation from her traumatic childhood, and Sybil is now free.
in 1976. Due to high public interest, the VHS
version of Sybil, released in the 1980s, was edited, with one version running 122 minutes and another, extended version running 132 minutes. Several key scenes, including Sybil's final climactic
"introduction" to each of her 13 selves maybe more, are missing in both versions. The film is shown frequently on television, often with scenes restored or deleted to adjust for time constraints and the varying sensitivity of viewers. The DVD
, however, includes the full 198 minute version originally displayed on the NBC broadcast.
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
that originally aired as a made-for-television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
miniseries
Miniseries
A miniseries , in a serial storytelling medium, is a television show production which tells a story in a limited number of episodes. The exact number is open to interpretation; however, they are usually limited to fewer than a whole season. The term "miniseries" is generally a North American term...
. It was based on the book of the same name
Sybil (book)
Sybil is a 1973 book by Flora Rheta Schreiber about the treatment of Sybil Dorsett for dissociative identity disorder by her psychoanalyst, Cornelia B...
.
Production
Sally FieldSally Field
Sally Margaret Field is an American actress, singer, producer, director, and screenwriter. In each decade of her career, she has been known for major roles in American TV/film culture, including: in the 1960s, for Gidget or Sister Bertrille on The Flying Nun ; in the 1970s, for Sybil , Smokey and...
starred in the title role, with Joanne Woodward
Joanne Woodward
Joanne Gignilliat Trimmier Woodward is an American actress, television and theatrical producer, and widow of Paul Newman...
playing the part of Sybil's psychiatrist
Psychiatry
Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the study and treatment of mental disorders. These mental disorders include various affective, behavioural, cognitive and perceptual abnormalities...
, Cornelia B. Wilbur
Cornelia B. Wilbur
Cornelia B. Wilbur was an American psychiatrist. She graduated from the University of Michigan in 1930 and was one of eight women medical college graduates in 1939...
. Woodword herself had starred in The Three Faces of Eve
The Three Faces of Eve
The Three Faces of Eve is a 1957 American film adaptation of a case study by Corbett H. Thigpen and Hervey M. Cleckley. It was based on the true story of Chris Costner Sizemore, also known as Eve White, a woman who suffered from Dissociative Identity Disorder formerly known as multiple personality...
, in which she portrayed a woman with 3 personalities, winning the Academy Award for Best Actress
Academy Award for Best Actress
Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
for the role. Based on the book Sybil
Sybil (book)
Sybil is a 1973 book by Flora Rheta Schreiber about the treatment of Sybil Dorsett for dissociative identity disorder by her psychoanalyst, Cornelia B...
by Flora Rheta Schreiber
Flora Rheta Schreiber
Flora Rheta Schreiber , an American journalist, was the author of the 1973 bestseller Sybil, the story of a woman who suffered from dissociative identity disorder....
, the movie dramatizes the life of a shy young graduate student, Sybil Dorsett (in real life, Shirley Ardell Mason
Shirley Ardell Mason
Shirley Ardell Mason was an American psychiatric patient and commercial artist who was reputed to have multiple personality disorder. Her life was fictionalized in 1973 in the book Sybil, and two films of the same name were made in 1976 and 2007...
), suffering from dissociative identity disorder
Dissociative identity disorder
Dissociative identity disorder is a psychiatric diagnosis and describes a condition in which a person displays multiple distinct identities , each with its own pattern of perceiving and interacting with the environment....
as a result of the psychological trauma
Psychological trauma
Psychological trauma is a type of damage to the psyche that occurs as a result of a traumatic event...
she suffered as a child. With the help of her psychiatrist, Sybil gradually recalls the severe child abuse
Child abuse
Child abuse is the physical, sexual, emotional mistreatment, or neglect of a child. In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Children And Families define child maltreatment as any act or series of acts of commission or omission by a parent or...
that led to the development of 13 different personalities. Field's portrayal of Sybil won much critical acclaim, as well as an Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
.
Sybil's personalities
Female Personalities:- Vanessa: Holds Sybil's musical abilities, plays the piano and helps Sybil pursue a romantic relationship with Richard. She's a young girl, possibly 12 years old (that's what Richard says and Vanessa does not dispute).
- Vicky: 13 year old who speaks French, a very strong, sophisticated and mature personality who knows about and has insight into all the other personalities, though Sybil does not. (states age when she is looking in the mirror at her doctor's home)
- Peggy: 9 year old who speaks like a little girl. Holds Sybil's artistic abilities, often appears while crying hysterically due to Sybil's fears. She has many misconceptions; for instance, she does not know that she is in New York City and, instead, thinks she is in the small town that Sybil grew up. Peggy feels the greatest trauma from her mom's abuse, often feeling sad/depressed and unable to find happiness. Her biggest fears include the green kitchen, purple, Christmas, and explosions.
- Marcia: dresses in funeral attire and constantly has suicidal thoughts and attempts suicide. Supposedly tried to kill Sybil in the Harlem hotel but was stopped from Vicky. She thinks the end of the world is coming, but what she really fears is the end of Sybil.
- Mary: is Sybil's memory of her grandmother; she speaks, walks and acts like a grandmother, and is anxious to meet Sybil's grandmother.
- Nancy: who kept waiting for the end of the world and was afraid of Armageddon. She's a product of Sybil's dad's religious fanatacism.
- Ruthie: is one of Sybil's less developed selves, a baby in fact. When Sybil hears her mom's voice, she is so terrified that she regresses into Ruthie, an alter that parallels Sybil as a helpless, regressive, pre-verbal baby.
- Clara: Around 8–9 years old. No info given.
- Ellen: Around 13–14 years old. No info given.
- Margie: Around 10–11 years old. No info given.
- Sybil Ann: Around 5–6 years old. Very shy.
Male Personalities:
- Mike: built the shelf in the top of Sybil's closet to hide Vickie's paintings, which she does at night. He and Sid want to know if they can still give a baby to a girl like "daddy" did even though they are in Sybil's (a female's) body. He's around 9–10 years old.
- Sid: wants to be just like his father, loves football. He's around 7–8 years old.
Cast
- Joanne WoodwardJoanne WoodwardJoanne Gignilliat Trimmier Woodward is an American actress, television and theatrical producer, and widow of Paul Newman...
as Dr. Cornelia Wilbur - Sally FieldSally FieldSally Margaret Field is an American actress, singer, producer, director, and screenwriter. In each decade of her career, she has been known for major roles in American TV/film culture, including: in the 1960s, for Gidget or Sister Bertrille on The Flying Nun ; in the 1970s, for Sybil , Smokey and...
as Sybil Dorsett - Brad DavisBrad Davis (actor)Robert Creel "Brad" Davis was an American actor, known for starring in the 1978 film Midnight Express.-Early life:...
as Richard, Sybil's neighbor boyfriend - Martine Bartlett as Hattie Dorsett, Sybil's mother
- Jane Hoffman as Frieda Dorsett
- Charles LaneCharles Lane (actor)Charles Gerstle Levison , better known as Charles Lane, was an American character actor seen in many movies and TV shows, and at the time of his death may have been the oldest living professional American actor. Lane appeared in many Frank Capra films, including You Can't Take It With You , Mr...
as Dr. Quinoness - Jessamine Milner as Grandma Dorsett
- William PrinceWilliam Prince (actor)William LeRoy Prince was an American actor who appeared in numerous soap operas and made dozens of guest appearances on primetime series as well as playing villains in movies like The Gauntlet and Spontaneous Combustion.-Biography:Prince was born in Nichols, New York, the son of Myrtle , a nurse...
as Willard Dorsettt - Penelope Allen as Miss Penny
- Camila AshlandCamila AshlandCamila Ashland , is an actress, best known for her role as Minnie Du Val in the cult series Dark Shadows.Ashland also starred on the soap opera General Hospital as Alice Grant from 1976–1977, and in the 1983 hit NBC miniseries V and its 1984 sequel, V: The Final Battle where she played Resistance...
as Cam - Tommy Crebbs as Matthew
- Gina Petrushka as Dr. Lazarus
- Harold Pruett as Danny
- Natasha Ryan as Child Sybil
- Paul Tulley as Dr. Castle
- Anne Beesley as The Selves
- Virginia Campbell as The Selves
- Missy Karn as The Selves
- Tasha Lee as The Selves
- Cathy Lynn Lesko as The Selves
- Rachel Longaker as The Selves
- Jennifer McAllister as The Selves
- Kerry Muir as The Selves
- Karen Obediear as The Selves
- Tony Sherman as The Selves
- Danny Stevenson as The Selves
- Gordon JumpGordon JumpAlexander Gordon Jump was an American actor best known as the clueless radio station manager Arthur "Big Guy" Carlson in the TV series WKRP in Cincinnati and the incompetent "Chief of Police Tinkler" in the sitcom Soap...
as Tractor farmer - Lionel Pina as Tommy
Sybil meets Dr. Wilbur
Sybil Dorsett is a young artist from Willow Corners, WisconsinWisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
who is employed as a substitute teacher while she works on her M.A. degree
Master of Arts (postgraduate)
A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...
. She has periodic blackouts that last anywhere from a few minutes to a few years. An episode that began in front of her young students in a park, ended several hours later in Sybil's apartment with her wrist cut, and a drawing of a swinging light bulb on her artist easel.
Sybil ends up in a clinic. Dr. Cornelia Wilbur (Joanne Woodward
Joanne Woodward
Joanne Gignilliat Trimmier Woodward is an American actress, television and theatrical producer, and widow of Paul Newman...
) is called in to give Sybil a neurological examination
Neurological examination
A neurological examination is the assessment of sensory neuron and motor responses, especially reflexes, to determine whether the nervous system is impaired...
. Sybil has tunnel vision
Tunnel vision
Tunnel vision is the loss of peripheral vision with retention of central vision, resulting in a constricted circular tunnel-like field of vision.- Medical / biological causes :Tunnel vision can be caused by:...
and is talking like a small child. During the smell test, Sybil is visibly disturbed at the scent of disinfectant. In Dr. Wilbur's clinic office, Sybil has a blackout. Sybil admits to having blackouts and fears they are getting worse. Dr. Wilbur theorizes that the incidents are a kind of hysteria, all related to a deeper problem. She asks Sybil to return at a later date for more counseling.
Willard Dorsett
Sybil's widowed father Willard Dorsett (William PrinceWilliam Prince (actor)
William LeRoy Prince was an American actor who appeared in numerous soap operas and made dozens of guest appearances on primetime series as well as playing villains in movies like The Gauntlet and Spontaneous Combustion.-Biography:Prince was born in Nichols, New York, the son of Myrtle , a nurse...
), who has moved to Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, is in town on his honeymoon with his new bride Freida (Jane Hoffman). At a lunch in a museum cafeteria, Sybil tries to explain her illness and the visit to Dr. Wilbur. Her father belongs to a religion that does not believe in "practitioners of the mind" and begins quoting Scripture to Sybil. She loses control and runs out of the museum. Sybil awakes in her own bed, trying to drown out her mother's voice in her head, and the memories of the past few days.
Vickie and Peggy
Dr. Wilbur receives a late night call from someone who identifies herself as Vickie and says Sybil is about to jump out a window of the Staten Hotel in HarlemHarlem
Harlem is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan, which since the 1920s has been a major African-American residential, cultural and business center. Originally a Dutch village, formally organized in 1658, it is named after the city of Haarlem in the Netherlands...
. Dr. Wilbur rescues Sybil, who denies knowing Vickie. The personality of 9-year-old Peggy emerges, babbling about "the white house", screaming "I have to get out". Peggy is remembering Dr. Quinoness and others in white coats in a white room, holding her down to administer ether
Diethyl ether
Diethyl ether, also known as ethyl ether, simply ether, or ethoxyethane, is an organic compound in the ether class with the formula . It is a colorless, highly volatile flammable liquid with a characteristic odor...
for a tonsillectomy
Tonsillectomy
A tonsillectomy is a 3,000-year-old surgical procedure in which the tonsils are removed from either side of the throat. The procedure is performed in response to cases of repeated occurrence of acute tonsillitis or adenoiditis, obstructive sleep apnea, nasal airway obstruction, snoring, or...
. She's terrified of her mother and begs a nice young doctor to take her home with him so she can be his little girl. As the nice doctor is leaving she bangs on the window. Sybil puts her hand through the hotel room window.
Richard J Loomis
Sybil and Richard J. Loomis (Brad DavisBrad Davis (actor)
Robert Creel "Brad" Davis was an American actor, known for starring in the 1978 film Midnight Express.-Early life:...
), her neighbor in the next building whose window faces hers, have been observing each other curiously. As Sybil is walking down the street, Richard invites her to take a horse carriage ride in the tourist rig he drives during the daytime. He says he's noticed her painting at night and playing with dolls, and she denies she does that. The personality of Vickie emerges, speaks in French and tells him about her spoiled life in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. Richard accepts it as part of her charm.
Dr. Wilbur meets Vickie and Marcia
Sophisticated 13-year-old personality Vickie shows up to keep Sybil's appointment with Dr. Wilbur. She is dressed in an attractive business suit, wearing white gloves, speaks French, and calls herself Victoria Antoinette Scharleau and says her mother lives in ParisParis
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
. Vickie explains that Sybil's alter personalities keep the memories that Sybil is unable to handle. Dr. Wilbur asks Vickie who the other personalities are. Vickie says Marcia is going to kill Sybil someday. One of the personalities plays the piano, but Vickie will not tell her name. Marcia shows up for the next appointment (not shown, but discussed in a voice-over by Dr. Wilbur), saying she is the one who tried to kill Sybil at the hotel. In Dr. Wilbur's voice-over, she discusses also the pictures Marcia has drawn illustrating scenes from her nightmares. All the personalities allow Dr. Wilbur to photograph them.
Vanessa
Richard Loomis invites Sybil to accompany him to his night time job as a street musician. The musician personality of Vanessa emerges to go with Richard. His son Matthew (Tommy Crebbs) says he knows Sybil from watching her through the window, and, "That's not Sybil. Sybil stayed home." Vanessa says her mother wanted to be a concert pianist but was forced to stay home and demonstrate pianos in the family music store. As Richard is performing, the hooks from the umbrellas cause the personality of Peggy to emerge and she runs away. Richard finds her in a public restroom where she is drawing a picture of a hanging light bulb. Sybil emerges and tells Richard of her childhood friend Danny who danced and sang like Fred AstaireFred Astaire
Fred Astaire was an American film and Broadway stage dancer, choreographer, singer and actor. His stage and subsequent film career spanned a total of 76 years, during which he made 31 musical films. He was named the fifth Greatest Male Star of All Time by the American Film Institute...
, who is a young boy she knew when they were kids.
Vanessa, Peggy and Ruthie visit Dr. Wilbur
The personality of Vanessa shows up for Sybil's next appointment with Dr. Wilbur, singing and playing the piano while she talks about Richard Loomis. She tells Dr. Wilbur that some of the personalities are boys, and that Richard had actually kissed the one named Mike. Peggy begins to emerge. She talks about the green kitchen and "the hands" and the music on the piano. Sybil emerges. Dr. Wilbur plays the session's tape, and when a voice that sounds like her mother Hattie speaks, Ruthie, another personality, this time of a baby, emerges and Dr. Wilbur finds her sitting in the fetal position in a corner sucking her thumb.Christmas
Vickie shows up for an appointment during the Christmas season and tells Dr. Wilbur it's all falling apart. The grandmotherly personality of Mary thinks she's in heaven. Marcia is talking about suicide. Sybil has invited Richard for Christmas dinner. The personalities made Dr. Wilbur a Christmas card, but Sybil made everything purple. Vickie has brought Dr. Wilbur paintings and says she cannot tell Sybil, because the paintings are done at night and hid in a secret closet shelf that Mike made. Dr. Wilbur hypnotizes Vickie and asks about the purple. The memory that comes forth is one of repeated abuses by Hattie, and of being locked in the wheat bin in the barn where Sybil uses her purple crayon to scratch on the inside of the bin so someone will know she had been there.Sybil and Richard and his son Matthew have Christmas dinner together, with Richard spending the night in Sybil's apartment. Sybil awakes in the middle of a nightmare and babbles about Dr. Wilbur. Richard panics and calls Dr. Wilbur who warns him about the multiple personalities. Dr. Wilbur arrives to find Richard has just rescued Sybil from an attempt to jump off the roof. While Dr. Wilbur sedates Sybil, she babbles about being in love with Richard. Sybil comes home one day and sees Richard's apartment is empty. Sybil feels deserted.
Denial and discovery
Sybil arrives for an appointment and tells Dr. Wilbur it's all been a lie, that she does not have multiple personalities.While on a lecture tour to Chicago, Dr. Wilbur talks to Willard Dorsett who admits to knowledge of "a bruise or two—from time to time", but denies his late wife Hattie inflicted them. He mentions that he once had Hattie examined by a psychiatrist, who diagnosed her with Paranoid schizophrenia, but says the doctors were wrong.
Dr. Wilbur drives to Willow Corners and asks a tractor farmer (Gordon Jump
Gordon Jump
Alexander Gordon Jump was an American actor best known as the clueless radio station manager Arthur "Big Guy" Carlson in the TV series WKRP in Cincinnati and the incompetent "Chief of Police Tinkler" in the sitcom Soap...
) how to find Dr. Quinoness (Charles Lane
Charles Lane (actor)
Charles Gerstle Levison , better known as Charles Lane, was an American character actor seen in many movies and TV shows, and at the time of his death may have been the oldest living professional American actor. Lane appeared in many Frank Capra films, including You Can't Take It With You , Mr...
), who pulls Sybil's records which confirms all the injuries. Dr. Quinoness gives Dr. Wilbur a frightening account of extensive scar tissue he found while examining Sybil for a bladder problem, knowing the whole time that the only way it could be caused is from abuse. He is beset with guilt for not having taken action to protect Sybil from abuse.
In the big white house, Dr. Wilbur visits the green kitchen with its swinging light bulb, just like drawn in the pictures. She goes to the barn and finds the wheat bin with the purple crayon scratches inside. Dr. Wilbur takes the piece of wood with the purple crayon scratches back to New York to show Sybil all those things really happened.
For memory healing, Dr. Wilbur drives Sybil back to Willow Corners. While sitting outdoors beneath a tree painting, Peggy emerges and remembers how every morning in the green kitchen her mother tied her feet spreadeagle
Spreadeagle (position)
The spread eagle is the position in which a person has his or her arms outstretched and legs apart, figuratively resembling an eagle with wings spread. It is a style that appears commonly in nature and geometry. In human style it is represented by the letter "X".A spreadeagle is a common position...
to a broom handle and hoisted her feet-up to the light to give her a cold water disinfectant enema. She also hurt her private parts with knives and Button hooks to teach her what men do with women when they grow up. As Peggy is confessing, the doctor hears other things that the mom did to her such as burn her hands with an iron, stick her hands in the oven and turn the gas on, stick a flashlight inside her, etc. Then, Peggy tells the doctor that her mom would tie Sybil to the piano and play Dvorák
Dvorák
- Dvořák or Dvorak :* Ann Dvorak , American film actress* Antonín Dvořák , Czech composer of Romantic music* August Dvorak , American psychologist, co-creator of the Dvorak Simplified Keyboard...
making Sybil hold her water (from the enema) until the very last note is played.
Dr. Wilbur hypnotizes Sybil to introduce her to all her other 13 selves so that she may become whole again. This is the final emancipation from her traumatic childhood, and Sybil is now free.
Edited and unedited versions
The film, originally 198 minutes long, was initially shown over the course of two nights on NBCNBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
in 1976. Due to high public interest, the VHS
VHS
The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
version of Sybil, released in the 1980s, was edited, with one version running 122 minutes and another, extended version running 132 minutes. Several key scenes, including Sybil's final climactic
Climax (narrative)
The Climax is the point in the story where the main character's point of view changes, or the most exciting/action filled part of the story. It also known has the main turning point in the story...
"introduction" to each of her 13 selves maybe more, are missing in both versions. The film is shown frequently on television, often with scenes restored or deleted to adjust for time constraints and the varying sensitivity of viewers. The DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
, however, includes the full 198 minute version originally displayed on the NBC broadcast.
Awards
1977 Emmy Awards- Sally Field for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama or Comedy Special
- Outstanding Achievement in Music Composition for a Special (Dramatic Underscore)
- Outstanding Special - Drama or Comedy
- Outstanding Writing in a Special Program - Drama or Comedy - Adaptation
External links
- http://www.dailytexanonline.com/media/storage/paper410/news/2006/04/20/LifeArts/sybil.Remake.Dvd.Long.Overdue-1863088.shtml?norewrite200608241452&sourcedomain=www.dailytexanonline.com Link to The Daily Texan article on "Sybil" (1976) by Gerard Martinez
- Jessica Lange to Star in CBS Remake of 'Sybil'
- Multiple Personality Controversies Links to many articles about the real Sybil, Shirley Mason.