He is the most realistic psychopath in cinema and his interpreter won an Oscar!

Who is the most realistic psychopath in cinema? A study of PhD students, Samuel J. Leistedt and Paul Linkowski’s 400 Films answers this thorny question after careful analysis of many fictional characters.

This study appeared in the journal American Academy of Forensic Sciences It was published in 2013 and scientists write:

The most undeniable psychopath in cinema

Among the most interesting and realistic idiopathic psychopathic characters is Anton Chigurh in the Coen brothers’ 2007 film No Country for Old Men.

“Anton Chigurh is a good prototype of an idiopathic/primary psychopath. We lack information about his childhood, but there are enough arguments and details about his behavior in the film to support a diagnosis of active idiopathic psychopathy and primary, inability to love. Lack of shame or remorse, lack of psychological insight, learning from past experiences Incompetence, coldness, ruthlessness, complete single-mindedness and lack of empathy.”

Played by Javier Bardem and inspired by Cormac McCarthy’s novel, Anton Chigurh is a truly irreverent character who, among other things, armed with his slaughterhouse connected to a bottle of compressed air, is a Cold War machine and impassive, devoid of emotion. and sees himself as the bringer of their fate to the victims.

Javier Bardem talks about playing the role of Anton Chigurh

“The description is extreme, but one could almost realistically call it ‘anti-human personality disorder'”American research concludes.

400 movies, but which movie?

To achieve this result, PhD students and film critics studied 400 films released between 1915 (Birth of a Nation) and 2010 (Dear Bones). 274 characters were excluded because they were discussed “Too cartoonish and/or too fantastical” (like comic book characters, characters with powers, Inhumans, etc.).

This left 126 feature films/characters selected from all film genres. 17% were women and 83% were men. Among men, 51 were primary psychopaths (49%) and 54 were secondary psychopaths (51%), and among women the distribution is 29% versus 71%.

In 2008, the Oscar Academy awarded Javier Bardem the Oscar for Best Actor for his performance in Interpreter of the Assassin. Country for Old Men also won Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay for Ethan and Joel Coen.