Year: 1998
Runtime: 114 min
Language: English
Director: Paul Schrader
Budget: $6M
A young writer struggling with schizophrenia finds his perception of reality increasingly distorted, making it difficult to separate his fiction from the truth. He capitalizes on his condition for professional success, but this ultimately leads to a descent into a dark and disorienting world where the line between imagination and reality vanishes, jeopardizing his grasp on sanity.
Get a spoiler-free look at Affliction (1998) with a clear plot overview that covers the setting, main characters, and story premise—without revealing key twists or the ending. Perfect for deciding if this film is your next watch.
In a cramped loft that hums with the scratch of a typewriter and the low‑grade neon glow of midnight streetlights, a young writer wrestles with a mind that refuses to stay grounded. His days are a fragile balance between the fierce drive to craft stories that captivate readers and the relentless whisper of a condition that bends perception. The city around him is rendered in muted shades, its ordinary rhythms tinged with an undercurrent of unease, reflecting the way his thoughts drift between what is real and what is imagined.
As his talent begins to draw attention, he finds himself coaxing the very instability that haunts him into a source of creative power. The literary world, with its promise of acclaim and validation, becomes a tempting stage where his fractured view of reality can be shown off as a unique voice. Yet each success pulls him deeper into a labyrinth where the boundaries between his fictional worlds and his lived experience start to dissolve, leaving him to wonder whether the stories he writes are simply extensions of his own psyche.
The film sways between gritty realism and surreal, almost dream‑like sequences, mirroring the protagonist’s internal struggle. Its atmosphere is thick with tension, a quiet dread that lingers even in moments of apparent triumph. The tone suggests that while brilliance can emerge from chaos, it also risks consuming the very soul that creates it, setting the stage for a compelling exploration of art, madness, and the cost of blurring the line between imagination and truth.
Last Updated: October 27, 2025 at 16:31
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