Trust me

19 MINUTES

What’s it like to feel betrayed by your brain? A memoir of bipolar disorder

‘If I had a choice to get rid of my illness, I wouldn’t … It defines me.’

A deeply honest and illuminating short, Trust Me invites viewers to step into the disorienting extremes of living with bipolar disorder. For the film, the German Argentinian director Melanie Cura Daball, who is of Syrian descent, interviewed her friend Anne Chataigné about her long journey from struggle and disbelief to recovery and reconciliation. She then melded Chataigné’s account with reenactments and vibrant, pastel-inflected animations to bring her story to life.

Capturing Chataigné’s swings from deep depressions to the fleeting highs of shoplifting and hypersexuality amid manic episodes to, ultimately, self-acceptance, the genre-traversing work chronicles her experience with nuance and compassion. In portraying the vulnerability, harm and stigmatisation Chataigné has confronted, as well as how her mental illness has affected her loved ones, Cura Daball crafts a compelling portrait that’s unflinching in its honesty, yet coloured with hope.

Via Director’s Notes

Director: Melanie Cura Daball

Writer: Anne Chataigné

Producers: Chloe Abrahams, Souvid Datta

Explore more

Illustration of two stylised people running on a boardwalk near the sea with telegraph poles and wires in the background.

How increasing short-term pleasure can help you achieve your long-term goals

Video by TED-Ed

Illustration of a person carrying a child on shoulders under a tree with yellow leaves on a pink background.

Dreamlike fragments capture the pain and beauty of a father-daughter bond

Directed by Susi Haaning

A woman and a man converse while seated on chairs in a room with plants. A decorative table with glasses is between them.

The critic inside your head has something important to tell you. Here’s how to listen

Video by Esther Perel

Close-up photo of an elderly man with a beard wearing a black cap, lying in a hospital bed, looking content.

After four decades in prison, Big D contemplates the brave new world that awaits him

Directed by Laura Tejero Núñez

A naked young woman walking on a rippled sandy beach towards the sea, clear blue water and distant islands in view.
Psyche Exclusive

For Lucy, surviving on a remote island was hard, but returning was harder

Directed by Jesper Wachtmeister

A woman holds a square mirror that blocks her face; it reflects rocks and grass. There is blue sky and clouds in the background. The only element in focus is the reflection on the mirror.

Losing her eyesight, a painter’s art evolves with the way she sees the world

Directed by Liberty Smith

Illustration of a young woman with a bob haircut, red skin and two different coloured eyes. She holds her hands up to her cheeks.

Fixating on her body, a woman grapples with strange distortions of the self

Directed by Chenghua Yang