In Two Minds

An investigative doctor gleans much from a young woman's environment after she is diagnosed with schizophrenia.

In Ken Loach’s faux-documentary, a mostly-unseen doctor interviews Kate (Anna Cropper), a young woman diagnosed with schizophrenia, as well as the family members, past-lovers and acquaintances in her orbit. Through short anecdotes and vignettes, a broad picture of her condition unfurls as does a mental health system ill-equipped to treat her.  

In Two Minds was the first film for The Wednesday Play to be shot entirely on location, marking a significant break away from some of the stale dramas being produced in-studio at the time. Despite these exteriors and perhaps fittingly, there is a greater emphasis on extreme close-ups often cutting out backgrounds entirely.

Like his other social issues-based films, In Two Minds stirred up much discussion after its broadcast, and drew the ire of Psychiatrists who saw their field portrayed in a negative light.  

Four years after the film was broadcast, and after the success of his feature film Kes (1969), Loach remade the film under the title Family Life (1971). The remake screened at the Berlin International Film Festival where it won three awards.  

– Reece Goodwin, Curator (TV & Special Events)