Titicut Follies is a 1967 American direct cinema documentary film produced, written, and directed by Frederick Wiseman and filmed by John Marshall. It deals with the patient-inmates of Bridgewater State Hospital for the Criminally Insane, a Massachusetts Correctional Institution in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. The title is taken from that of a talent show put on by the hospital staff. Titicut is the Wampanoag name for the nearby Taunton River.

The film won accolades in Germany and Italy. Wiseman went on to produce many more such films examining social institutions (e.g. hospitals, police, schools, etc.) in the United States.

In 2022, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Synopsis

Titicut Follies portrays the occupants of Bridgewater State Hospital, who were often kept in barren cells and infrequently bathed. It also depicts inmates/patients required to strip naked publicly, force feeding, and the indifference and bullying by many of the hospital's staff.

The film employs methods of direct cinema, which emphasizes observation, limited stylization, and non-intervention by filmmakers.

Production

Development

Titicut Follies was the beginning of the documentary career of Frederick Wiseman, a Boston-born lawyer turned filmmaker. He had taken his law classes from Boston University to the institution for educational purposes and had "wanted to do a film there". He began calling the facility superintendent, seeking permission to film a year prior to production. Wiseman had previously produced The Cool World (1964), based on Warren Miller’s novel of the same name, an experience that informed his desire to direct.

Filming

Wiseman drafted a proposal that was verbally agreed to by the superintendent, which later came into question when the film began distribution. Following that agreement, filming began, with corrections staff following Wiseman at all times and determining on the spot whether the subjects filmed were mentally competent, adding further confusion to an already fraught process. While on location, Wiseman recorded the sound and directed the established ethnographic filmmaker John Marshall⁠via microphone or by hand.

Post-production

Twenty-nine days were spent documenting the conditions at Bridgewater and 80,000 feet of film were shot. Wiseman spent approximately a year editing the footage into the final 84-minute narrative.

Release

Censorship

Just before the film was to be shown at the 1967 New York Film Festival, the Massachusetts government tried to procure an injunction banning its release, claiming that the film violated the patients' privacy and dignity. Despite Wiseman having received permission from all the people portrayed or that of the hospital superintendent (the inmates' legal guardian), Massachusetts claimed that this permission could not take the place of release forms from the inmates. Wiseman was also accused of breaching an "oral contract", giving the state government editorial control over the film.

Wiseman appealed to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, which in 1969 allowed it to be shown only to doctors, lawyers, judges, health-care professionals, social workers, and students in these and related fields. It was also the first time that Massachusetts recognized a right to privacy at the state level. Schwartz has said "There is a direct connection between the decision not to show that film publicly and my client dying 20 years later, and a whole host of other people dying in between," and "the film may have also influenced the closing of the institution featured in the film."

In 1991, Superior Court judge Andrew Meyer allowed the film's release to the general public, saying that as time had passed, privacy concerns had become less important than First Amendment concerns. He also said that many of the former patients had died, so there was little risk of a violation of their dignity. The film was shown on PBS on September 4, 1992, its first American television airing. Before, a narrative warning and an introduction by Charlie Rose were played. Following the broadcast, a message was shown stating that improvements had been made since the time of production.

The film is now legally available through its distributor, Zipporah Films Inc., for purchase or rental on DVD and for educational and individual license. Zipporah released the DVD to the home market in December 2007.

In 2020, the film was shown on Turner Classic Movies.

In 2022, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". The film was scanned and restored in 4K by the British Film Institute; this marks the first time Titicut Follies has been released on high-definition media anywhere in the world.

Accolades

  • Mannheim-Heidelberg International Filmfestival: Mannheim Film Ducat, Frederick Wiseman; 1967.
  • Festival Dei Popoli: Best Film Dealing with the Human Condition; Florence, Italy; 1967.

Reception

Review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reports that 100% of 12 critics gave the film a positive review, with an average rating of 7.9/10.

See also

  • List of American films of 1967
  • Cocksucker Blues, documentary of a Rolling Stones tour, largely unseen due to legal restrictions related to privacy issues

References

Notes

Bibliography

  • Carolyn Anderson and Thomas W. Bensson. Documentary Dilemmas: Frederick Wiseman's Titicut Follies (Southern Illinois University Press, 1991, )
  • Barry Keith Grant and Frederick Wiseman. Five Films by Frederick Wiseman – Titicut Follies, High School, Welfare, High School II, Public Housing (University of California Press, 2006, )
  • Titicut Follies Official Web-site
  • Titicut Follies film review by Roger Ebert