A 2010’s Canadian drama film, Frankie & Alice, is directed by Geoffrey Sax and stars American actress Halle Berry. The film got multiple mixed reviews from the critics, and the acting of the leading actress in the film, Berry, was widely admired; she also got nominated for Golden Globe Award for Best Actress under the category of Drama from Motion Picture. Initially, no one ever hears or remembers the film itself because normal people wouldn’t have been able to see the film.
This Canadian drama film’s filming was completed in the winter of 2008, but it was never released in domestic theatres until 2014. On a single screen in Los Angeles, the film only got its screening as a “qualifying run” for a limited audience and for some award consideration. Later in the year 2014, a small offshoot of Lionsgate, Codeblack Entertainment, released the film in domestic theatres.
This drama film is based on the true story of a girl named Frankie Murdoch who has suffered from multiple personality disorders, but what is the real story behind Frankie & Alice? Let us find out here.
The Real Story Behind Frankie & Alice
Frankie Murdoch was raised in the 50s in Savannah, Georgia. Her mother worked as a maid in a southern home. By 1973, their family is located in Los Angeles, and Frankie, who everyone calls short instead of Francine, is a very bright, articulate woman who becomes a stripper/exotic dancer. She happens to be one of the highest-paid and most popular requested dancers where she is working. She makes a lot of money and can take care of herself very well, but money keeps disappearing. Her family is baffled at times by her outburst and behavior, and at other times, by her disappearance and not being able to really tell the truth about where she is because she really does not know. Frankie had severe emotional problems that had long seemed to be taking over her life.
She smokes and drinks a lot. At first, the reason behind her multiple blackouts was considered the result of high alcohol and drug consumption. She is a reefer smoker, and she is a drinker, but the kind of blackouts that she is having totally not having to do with alcohol use or drugs, and that is what probably keeps confusing it. Not even a single psychiatrist in the United States in 1954 was unaware of this case. Including Dr. Cornelia Wilber, who was a famous American Psychiatrist.
All About Multiple Personality Disorder?
Before Frankie, Multiple Personality Disorder was so unique that even less than a hundred cases had ever been reported in the medical history of the world. In the year 1980, less than a decade later, the America Psychiatric Association officially recognized Multiple Personality as a disorder. And the number of patients diagnosed with Multiple Personality Disorder rose by thousands. These personalities are all perfectly whole, but they are completely separate people. Sometimes, the patients come to the psychiatrist for depression and are left with Multiple Personalities.
Multiple Personality Disorder is also known as Dissociative Identity Disorder. It has two types; Covert Multiple Personality Disorder and Overt Multiple Personality Disorder. By far, the most common type, Covert Multiple Personality Disorder, occurs when a patient experiences unexpected and dramatic shifts in how they perceive, believe, or feels as if the patient facing has taken on characteristics of a completely different person. Some people who are suffering from Covert Multiple Personality Disorder may hear that person’s voice and have a sense that it is speaking to them. Covert Multiple Personality Disorder suffering patients are usually aware that their experience is unusual and may feel confused and powerless to understand their behavior and moods.
On the other hand, those with Overt Multiple Personality Disorder outright considered two more than that distinct identities. These distinct identities are sometimes called alters or personalities. These new personalities of the person are distinct because they tend to talk and act very unusual to the original person. They may have like different tastes or may differ in political views and be of different ages, gender, or nationalities. These identities completely take a person’s body and mind, suppressing all other identities temporarily. The person suffering from Overt Multiple Personality Disorder is unaware that these unusual things are happening and may even report forgetting their whole day, just like in Frankie’s case.
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