Underplayed Gems

Egomania

Egomania poster
Genre
documentary film, documentary television film
Country
United Kingdom
Elsewhere
IMDb
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How it feels

This documentary episode profiles people diagnosed with narcissistic personality disorder. It follows their behavior and interactions, including one subject who displays symptoms and acts out in public.

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What happens

"Egomania" was the first episode of a three-part documentary series on Channel 4 made by Firecracker Films about people who are diagnosed with narcissistic personality disorder (NPD). The other two parts of the series, called Mania, were called "Pyromania" and "Erotomania". The film was directed by Mark Soldinger and narrated by actor Bernard Hill. The film was not well received by some critics. Sam Wollaston from The Guardian referred to it as "an excuse to show some really nasty people and their behaviour on the television". Though he does feel the documentary improves towards the end: "When a contributor who has featured throughout, Sam Vaknin, reveals that he is a sufferer. And then we get to see him in action, the out-takes of the making of the film ... swaggers around Camden Market in London, shouting at people, demanding money, as if he owns the place. Well, he does, so maybe it's OK." However, Wollaston notes: "And anyway, Frank only displays three of the nine symptoms of narcissistic personality disorder (NPD), so he's not even a proper egomaniac." (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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