History Gaslighting / LiveActionFilms

* ''Film/TheInvisibleMan2020'' begins with Cecilia attempting to escape from her abusive husband Adrian. After she does so, he fakes his own death and begins stalking her, using a special suit of his own invention that renders him invisible. Cecilia realizes what's going on fairly quickly, but of course, [[MistakenForInsane everyone just thinks she's losing her mind]], a belief that Adrian takes advantage of to alienate her from her friends and ultimately [[spoiler:frame her for her sister's murder]]. And even when she finally manages to prove the suit exists and Adrian isn't dead, [[spoiler:he sets things up so that his brother takes the fall instead. Driven to the edge with grief and realizing the law will never punish Adrian, Cecilia eventually resolves to murder him herself]].

* Disney's ''Film/MaryPoppins'' [[AmbiguousInnocence may or may not be doing this on purpose]] to George Banks in her job interview scene. George wrote an advertisement for a nanny job which he posted in the newspaper. His children also wrote an advertisement which George ripped to pieces and threw into the fireplace because he thought their version was childish, but when he isn't looking a mysterious wind picks up the pieces and carries them up the chimney and into the sky. George is very confused and disturbed when Mary shows up at his door with the advertisement that the children wrote instead of the one he actually posted. Mary acts like there isn't anything strange about how she got the kid's advertisement and genuinely doesn't seem to know why George is muttering to himself and looking at the fireplace.

* ''Film/NextOfKin1982'': [[spolier:Rita]] plans to drive Linda insane as part of her plan to take over the Montclare retirement home, creating the intimation that her spirit is haunting the place.

* The 1964 {{Hammer}} movie ''Nightmare'' has this done to a traumatized teenage girl named Janet, as a part of an evil plot by her guardian, Henry and her nurse, Grace, who also happens to be his mistress, in order to get rid of his wife. [[spoiler: However, the same thing is done to Grace, making her believe that her new husband is cheating on her, leading to their downfall...]]

* The 1964 HammerHorror movie ''Nightmare'' has this done to a traumatized teenage girl named Janet, as a part of an evil plot by her guardian, Henry and her nurse, Grace, who also happens to be his mistress, in order to get rid of his wife. [[spoiler: However, the same thing is done to Grace, making her believe that her new husband is cheating on her, leading to their downfall...]]

* This is exactly what the NS-5 robots do to Detective Spooner; upon failing to kill him, they systematically remove ALL evidence that they even tried.

* Creator/StanleyKubrick does it to the ''viewer'' in ''Film/AClockworkOrange''. He made continuity errors on purpose during the scene where Alex has dinner with the author. The dishes on the table move around and the level of wine in the glasses changes between shots.

* ''Film/{{Gaslight}}'' is the TropeNamer and probably the modern TropeMaker. In that film, a man marries a woman [[spoiler:so he can get into the loft her aunt willed her and get at her aunt's hidden treasure, after killing that same aunt with his bare hands. To keep her out of the loft while he searches for it,]] he starts a plan to make her think she's gone insane so that he can commit her to an asylum. The trope name (and the movie's title) comes from the part of the film in which the woman, convinced that she is going crazy, is unsure whether or not she's imagining the gas lights dim, which is happening because [[spoiler: he's turning on the lights in the attic for his search, and this is re-directing gas from the downstairs lights]].
* ''Film/{{Amelie}}'' does this to the grocer as a punishment of sorts for berating and belittling her friend. At first, they're just little things -- for example, she replaces his slippers with identical ones that are a size too small, swaps his lightbulbs with much dimmer ones, and exchanges his toothpaste with a cream intended for his feet. Eventually, her tricks get more and more elaborate until he really begins to question his sanity...but the real kicker is when she replaces the speed-dial number for his mother with that of a ''mental hospital''.

* Sgt Angel in ''Film/HotFuzz'' starts to think that he's going insane after everyone in the village ignores the increasing amount of evidence that there is a murderer on the loose in the village.
* ''Film/ShutterIsland''
** The film uses continuity errors to suggest insanity. For instance, while one of the patients is being questioned early on she asks for a glass of water. She's brought a full glass in one shot, in the next shot she drinks it, ''but there's no glass in her hand'', and in the next shot she sets down an empty glass. All these shots are so short (about a couple seconds each) that it becomes harder to notice, heightening the unease the audience feels for reasons they can't really explain.
** Furthermore, such tricks seem to be used against the protagonist by the staff of the hospital. By the end, he doesn't know if everyone in the hospital is conspiring against him or if he has slipped into paranoid insanity. [[spoiler:He is in fact a paranoid schizophrenic with psychotic delusions, and the staff are indeed part of a conspiracy, but it's to help him.]]
* ''Film/TheScreamingSkull'' has a [[TheBluebeard Bluebeard]] who killed his first wife for her money and then attempted to gaslight his second wife, already mentally shaky, into suicide so he could get ''her'' inheritance. As it turns out, [[RealAfterAll his first wife's spirit wants]] [[UnfinishedBusiness revenge from beyond the grave...]]
* Mentioned in ''Film/TheDarjeelingLimited''. When Jack discovers his ex-girlfriend's perfume in his luggage, Peter suggests she might be trying to gaslight him.
* Lucy, the heroine from ''Film/FalsePositive'', undergoes artificial insemination. It works, but as her pregnancy progresses, Lucy suspects that Dr. Hindle is doing this to her, such as by [[spoiler:denying that he aborted her "parasitic" twins]].
* A large part of how the conspiracy is maintained (most namely with the therapist and, for instance, his disappearing drink) in ''Film/TheForgotten'' (2004).
* Referenced in ''Film/BordelloOfBlood'', although in that case, it was less about driving anyone mad and more about concealing criminal activities.

* ''Film/PsychoII''. Norman Bates came home cured. [[spoiler:Marion's sister decides to unravel that.]]
* In the Creator/TheMarxBrothers film ''Film/ANightAtTheOpera'', the brothers do this to a police inspector. He checks Groucho's apartment for Chico, Harpo, and Ricardo, and the brothers try to conceal the fact that they are staying there by hiding the fact that there are four beds. The beds get repeatedly shuffled between rooms until the cop is convinced he is nuts.
* In ''Film/LesDiaboliques'', a man's mistress and his wife conspire to kill him. But after they drown him, signs turn up to make it unclear whether he's really dead or not. [[spoiler:The mistress and the husband are actually conspiring to frighten the wife, who has a weak heart, to death.]]

%%* The ''Series/NightGallery'' film.
* ''Film/TheTenant'', Creator/RomanPolanski's self-starring conclusion to his "Apartment Trilogy" (with ''Film/{{Repulsion}}'' and ''Film/RosemarysBaby''), has the protagonist moving into a new apartment whose former tenant (a woman named Simone Chule) had committed suicide. Over time, he becomes convinced his neighbors are conspiring to turn him into Simone's likeness. [[spoiler:It is probably more likely that he is going mad on his own, but the film does leave room for interpretation.]]
* A favorite plot device of Creator/WilliamCastle, who was influenced by the aforementioned ''Film/LesDiaboliques.'' Visible in ''Macabre'' (on a male victim, fairly unusually), ''Film/HouseOnHauntedHill1959,'' ''Film/TheTingler,'' and ''The Night Walker'' at the very least.
* Featured extensively in ''Film/RosemarysBaby'', where the plot turns out to revolve around [[spoiler:a satanic cult that wants to impregnate Rosemary and make her give birth to TheAntichrist. This is accomplished by drugging her, insisting that she looks healthy when in reality the FetusTerrible causes her to look pale and malnourished and just generally acting like nothing is wrong. Later they dismiss her ravings about witches and cults as stress from the pregnancy and use similar tactics to convince her that the baby died. The reason this works so well at first is due to the sheer amount of people involved, with Rosemary’s husband, doctor, and ''every tenant in her apartment building'' being in on it.]]

* The 1961 film ''Film/ThePitAndThePendulum'' has a man believe he accidentally buried his late wife alive. It turns out [[spoiler:his wife was never dead and is conspiring with the man's best friend, who was also the doctor who declared her dead, to drive the man insane so they can continue an affair they are having. They succeed, but soon find [[GoneHorriblyRight they have driven him]] ''[[InsaneEqualsViolent too]]'' [[AxCrazy insane]], and are quickly on the receiving end of LaserGuidedKarma.]]
* Both Film/{{Vabank}} and its sequel base their delightful [[MindScrew mind-screwyness]] on Kwinto's crew gaslighting Kramer (in the first movie, to give him a "perfect" [[{{Frameup}} alibi]]: in the second, to drive him right into the hands of [[ByTheBookCop Przygoda]]) in very elaborate ways.
* A major plot point in ''Film/{{Changeling}},'' as the Los Angeles Police try to convince Christine Collins that the boy they found is really her missing son (despite being obviously different) and she must be crazy to think otherwise. Frighteningly enough, this is BasedOnATrueStory.
* In ''[[Film/BunnyLakeIsMissing Bunny Lake is Missing]]'', the heroine's young daughter disappears, along with nearly all evidence of her existence. Her brother encourages her to try to prove to the police that her daughter is real. It's actually a misdirection gambit to prevent her from figuring out that he was the one behind the abduction.
* ''Film/TheTrumanShow'' is all about this, especially when he starts to notice there are things wrong with his reality because it's a reality show inside a giant soundstage. His wife and best friend, who are actors, try to convince him that little things like seeing his "dead" father again on the street or a Klieg light falling from the sky are signs of a mental breakdown.
** One part which stands out is when Truman starts voicing his objections, and then he begins the next scene ''dressed in children's clothing.''
* In the {{Anthology}} film ''Film/ChillingVisions5StatesOfFear'', a variant of this trope occurs in "The Trouble With Dad". An elderly man living in a nice isolated house appears to be suffering from Alzheimer's, as his daughter and son-in-law keep having to remind him of events he can't recall. In fact, these events never happened; they're just trying to convince him that his mind is failing so he'll be DrivenToSuicide and they can inherit his house. He discovers the truth when he finds the freshly-dead carcass of his dog, which they'd secretly killed and claimed had been "put down" months ago.

* ''Film/{{Midsommar}}'': Christian does this to Dani, as part of his emotional abuse. This results in some serious retribution when [[spoiler: Dani sends him to be boiled to death in a bear carcass]]
* ''Film/{{Matilda}}'' does this to SadisticTeacher Trunchbull via telekinetic powers, at first in very little adjustments, but finally by outright having two paintings levitate around the room. Since Trunchbull is highly superstitious, she instantly assumes that [[spoiler:her brother-in-law Magnus, ''whom she had murdered'']] is haunting her. She catches up on the situation though when she finds [[ChekhovsGun Matilda's red hairband]].
* ''Film/TheTerror'': [[spoiler:Katrina]] is attempting to drive the Baron to suicide by making him think that he is haunted by the ghost of late wife. However, unusually for this trope, [[spoiler:she uses supernatural means to do so]].
* ''Film/TheHouseThatDrippedBlood'': In "Method for Murders", Charles' sightings of Dominick turn out to be [[spoiler:part of a plan by his wife Alice to have him declared insane so she can run off with her lover]].
* ''Film/TradingPlaces'': The Duke Brothers do this to Louis Winthorpe as part of their bet. When Louis returns home with Ophelia, he finds that somebody changed the locks on his door, and when he knocks on the door, [[TheJeeves his butler Coleman]] pretends he doesn't know him.
* In ''Film/TheHandsOfOrlac'', the ConMan Nera has been carefully manipulating things to make Orlac believe that his hands have a mind of their own so that Orlac will believe that he could have been responsible for his father's murder and be susceptible to blackmail.
* ''Film/TheInvisibleMan2020'' begins with Cecilia attempting to escape from her abusive husband Adrian. After she does so, he fakes his own death and begins stalking her, using a special suit of his own invention that renders him invisible. Cecilia realizes what's going on fairly quickly, but of course, [[MistakenForInsane everyone just thinks she's losing her mind]], a belief that Adrian takes advantage of to alienate her from her friends and ultimately [[spoiler: frame her for her sister's murder]]. And even when she finally manages to prove the suit exists and Adrian isn't dead, [[spoiler: he sets things up so that his brother takes the fall instead. Driven to the edge with grief and realizing the law will never punish Adrian, Cecilia eventually resolves to murder him herself.]]

* Disney's ''WesternAnimation/{{Tangled}}'' practically revolves around this trope, with "Mother" Gothel hitting 11 out of the 11 signs of [[https://www.psychologytoday.com/au/blog/here-there-and-everywhere/201701/11-warning-signs-gaslighting gaslighting]].
* ''Film/{{Bowfinger}}'': Bobby Bowfinger unknowingly does this to Kit Ramsey. When Kit refuses to star in his movie ''Chubby Rain'', [[EnforcedMethodActing Bowfinger decides to make the movie with him in it without him finding out]]. However, he seemingly has no idea Kit is actually intensely paranoid about aliens and thinks they're very real, so when Bowfinger's actors walk up to Kit out of nowhere and start talking to him about aliens and [=UFOs=], it pushes Kit right up to the edge of a breakdown.
* ''Film/TheLodge'': [[spoiler:Aiden and Mia spend the film pulling this on Grace, attempting to drive her into committing suicide by, among other things, claiming everyone in the lodge is dead and in Purgatory. They succeed too well - Grace kills their father Richard and is implied to be about to murder both of them at the end of the film.]]
* ''Film/{{Kimi}}'': Angela's psychiatrist suggests that her mental illness is just making her think that what she overheard is like her rape, but doesn't push it. Natalie Chowdhury though explicitly tries to use it against Angela so she can dismiss her report. Angela however never falls for it, and has hard evidence too in any case.
* ''Film/TheyThem2022'': Cora acts sympathetic to Jordan while in their session, then quickly twists their words to claim that Jordan's just presented as nonbinary so they'll feel special, while really being a lesbian and confused about this.