It is black and white. It is low budget. Honestly, by today’s hyper-saturated streaming standards, the David and Lisa movie might look like a relic from a museum basement. But if you actually sit down and watch it, really watch it, you’ll realize why it blew the doors off the film industry back in 1962. It wasn't just a movie. It was a cultural pivot point.
Before we had Silver Linings Playbook or Girl, Interrupted, we had David and Lisa. This wasn't some glossy Hollywood production with a thousand extras. It was a gritty, independent film made for very little money—around $200,000, which even for the sixties was basically pocket change for a feature. Yet, it landed two Academy Award nominations. That just doesn’t happen unless you’ve tapped into something deeply human and perhaps a little bit uncomfortable.
What Actually Happens in the David and Lisa Movie?
The plot is deceptively simple. We meet David Clemens, played by Keir Dullea. He’s a young man with a paralyzing phobia of being touched. To David, a human hand on his shoulder feels like a death sentence. He’s brilliant, arrogant, and terrified. Then there is Lisa, played by Janet Margolin. She has dissociative identity disorder. One version of her only speaks in rhymes; the other won't speak at all, communicating only through chalk drawings.
They meet at a residential treatment center.
Most films about mental health in that era were either horror stories or overly sanitized "miracle" tales where a doctor gives a speech and everyone is cured by the credits. This isn't that. It’s a story about two people who are "broken" by society's standards finding a way to communicate through their own private languages. David, who can't stand to be touched, and Lisa, who can't stand to be seen as herself.
Frank Perry directed it, and his wife, Eleanor Perry, wrote the screenplay based on a book by Dr. Theodore Isaac Rubin. Because it was based on the work of a real psychiatrist, the film avoids the "Hollywood crazy" tropes. It feels clinical yet deeply emotional.
Why the World Obsessed Over a Low-Budget Drama
You have to remember the context of 1962. Mental illness was something families hid in the attic. You didn't talk about it at dinner. Then comes the David and Lisa movie, putting these struggles front and center on the big screen. It was a massive hit. It wasn't just a critical darling; it actually made money. People were hungry for something that felt real.
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The performances are what carry the weight. Keir Dullea—who later became iconic in 2001: A Space Odyssey—brought this cold, sharp edge to David. You want to like him, but he makes it hard. He’s condescending to the staff. He thinks he’s smarter than everyone else. And he probably is. But his fear of touch is so palpable it makes your own skin crawl.
Then you have Janet Margolin. Her Lisa is heartbreaking. The rhyming isn't a "quirky" character trait like you’d see in a modern indie rom-com. It’s a shield. A way to keep the world at a distance. When David finally starts to understand her "code," it’s one of the most earned moments of connection in cinema history. No kissing. No grand sweeping music. Just two people finally understanding one another.
The Genius of Eleanor Perry’s Script
Eleanor Perry was a powerhouse. She didn't write down to the audience. She understood that the tension in the David and Lisa movie didn't need to come from external villains. The "villain" is the wall inside David's head. The "villain" is Lisa's fractured sense of self.
The dialogue is sharp. It’s fast. David’s interactions with his mother are particularly brutal. They show how parental expectations and "smothering" can contribute to a child's psychological breakdown. It’s a nuanced take on the "refrigerator mother" theories that were prevalent at the time, though the film manages to be more empathetic than the rigid psychological doctrines of the fifties.
The Technical Side of a Masterpiece
The cinematography by Jack Herb is stark. High contrast. Lots of tight close-ups. When you’re watching David, the camera is often uncomfortably close, making you feel his claustrophobia. The music by Mark Lawrence is equally jarring. It’s not meant to be "pretty." It’s meant to reflect the internal chaos of the characters.
The film was shot in and around Philadelphia, and that East Coast, gray-skies energy permeates every frame. It doesn't look like California. It doesn't look like a set. It looks like a place where people are trying to survive their own minds.
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Debunking the Remake: Why the 1998 Version Failed
In 1998, they tried to do it again. A made-for-TV movie starring Lukas Haas and Brittany Murphy. It had Oprah Winfrey as a producer. On paper, it should have worked. Brittany Murphy was an incredible actress who could do "vulnerable" better than almost anyone.
But it lacked the grit.
The 1998 version felt like a "Movie of the Week." It was too soft. Too colorful. It lost that cold, sterile, yet burning intensity of the original David and Lisa movie. While Murphy’s performance was praised, the remake ultimately proved that some stories are perfectly told the first time because they are products of their specific era. The 1962 version was a rebellion against the status quo. The 1998 version was just a drama.
Real-World Impact on Mental Health Representation
Before this movie, if you saw a "mental patient" in a film, they were usually a threat. Think Psycho (1960). They were people to be feared or mocked.
David and Lisa changed the lens. It asked the audience to identify with the patients rather than the doctors or the "sane" outsiders. It humanized the struggle. Dr. Theodore Isaac Rubin, who wrote the original book, was a practitioner who believed in the power of empathy in therapy. The film reflects that. It shows that recovery isn't a straight line. It’s messy. It involves setbacks. It involves being incredibly annoying to the people trying to help you.
The film's success paved the way for more honest portrayals of neurodiversity and mental illness. It showed Hollywood that there was a massive audience for "difficult" stories.
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Acknowledging the Limitations
Is the David and Lisa movie perfect? No. By modern standards, some of the psychiatric jargon feels dated. The understanding of dissociative disorders has evolved significantly since 1962. We know more now. We describe things differently. Some viewers might find the pacing slow. It’s a "talking" movie. If you need explosions or high-stakes car chases, you’re going to be bored out of your mind.
But if you care about the history of film, or if you’ve ever felt like you were living on a different frequency than the rest of the world, this movie is essential viewing.
How to Watch It Today
Finding the original can be a bit of a hunt depending on your streaming subscriptions. It occasionally pops up on Criterion Channel or TCM. It’s worth the hunt. Don't settle for the remake first. Start with the 1962 original.
Watch the scene where David explains why he hates clocks. It’s a masterclass in character writing. He sees time as this looming, mechanical threat—something he can't control, just like he can't control the people around him. It’s brilliant.
Moving Forward with the Legacy of David and Lisa
If you’re a film student, a psychology buff, or just someone who likes a good story, there are a few things you should do to truly appreciate this work.
- Read the original book by Dr. Theodore Isaac Rubin. It provides much more clinical depth into the "Reach" and "Lisa" characters (Lisa's names in the book).
- Compare it to "The Swimmer" (1968). This was another Frank and Eleanor Perry collaboration starring Burt Lancaster. It deals with similar themes of mental fragmentation and the collapse of the American Dream.
- Look for the 1967 stage play. The story was adapted for the stage and has been a staple for drama students for decades because the roles are so meaty and challenging.
The David and Lisa movie stands as a testament to the power of independent cinema. It reminds us that you don't need a huge budget to change how people think. You just need a story that refuses to blink. It’s about the terrifying, wonderful, and absolutely necessary act of reaching out and letting someone else in, even when every fiber of your being is screaming at you to run.
Check your local library or specialty film retailers. In a world of CGI and superhero sequels, a story about two people trying to hold a conversation is a breath of fresh air.