Brain on Fire (2016)

Directed by

Gerard Barrett

Genre

drama film, biographical film

Country

United States

Runtime

1h 28m

Rated

PG-13

Rating

7.0 of 10 from 1,432 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A young newspaper reporter suddenly starts experiencing strange physical and mental symptoms. She goes from doctor to doctor but no one can figure out what is wrong with her. A neurologist finally recognizes her rare condition and saves her life.

tensemelancholicmedical dramafrustratingsuspensefulhumaneurgentconfusing

What happens

Brain on Fire is a 2016 biographical drama film directed and written by Irish filmmaker Gerard Barrett. The film is based on Susannah Cahalan's memoir Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness and stars Chloë Grace Moretz, Jenny Slate, Thomas Mann, Tyler Perry, Carrie-Anne Moss, and Richard Armitage. The film follows the true story of New York Post writer Cahalan, who begins to experience a mysterious illness. After being evaluated extensively by many doctors, she was diagnosed with psychosis. If not for the efforts and skills of Syrian-American neurologist Souhel Najjar, she would have been committed to the psychiatric ward in a hospital and may have died of encephalitis. He sympathized with her case and was able to diagnose and treat her rare illness. The film was an international co-production between Canada, Ireland & United States. Principal photography began on July 13, 2015, in Vancouver, British Columbia. It had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 14, 2016. The film was released on Netflix on June 22, 2018 but later removed in June 2025. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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