Touching films about madness

Nice to see you !

"A Beautiful Mind" is a well known one.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Beautiful_Mind_(film)

and of course "Shine" about the pianist David Helfgott.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shine_(film)

BTW. I suppose you know that George III's "madness" was likely to have been caused by a dietary condition.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outrageous!

both the book and the movie

Clockwork Orange
maybe One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

The Snake Pit

Splendor in the Grass

We need to talk about Kevin.

As for books, anything by R.D. Laing on "anti-psychiatry" would be "sympathetic".
e.g. "Sanity, Madness and the Family" (1964), Laing and Esterton.

And I seem to remember a British Film called "Family Life" around that time which illustrated Laing's adage "Insanity is a sane response to an insane society".

If you've time, you might take a look at the Jessica Tandy role in "Batteries not Included"

Loved Shine. Thought A Beautiful Mind was too much of a whitewash.

How about Benny & Joon (1993)?

The Soloist with Robert Downey, Jr., and Jamie Foxx.

Equus (1977)
Down in the Valley (2005)

Just a side note, your request is a little vague. Are you looking for movies on any particular bit of mental illness? Madness has a certain very negative connotation but it can be used to cover (badly) a great deal of mental illness based/centric movies.

An oldie that I saw and don't remember -

David and Lisa
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055892/

This one I loved -

The Best of Youth
italian w/subtitles
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0346336/

the mental illness part of it is only one of the storylines, but interesting.

Shutter island, is an amazing movie about madness
I also really love "requiem for a dream" though it's more about drugs than madness.

The 2001 Korean comedy "My Sassy Girl" is about a young man who accidentally becomes involved with a strange young woman who passes out drunk next to him on a crowded commuter train. Her behavior throughout the film is unconventional, unpredictable, and just plain odd. In the end the young man finally comes to understand her.

To get away from the screen, have you ever read the short story "Bartleby the Scrivener?" It's a classic, and kind of touching in a helpless sort of way.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mental_illness_in_films

Hey,
I don't know if this really catergorizes as that- but it has moments that I find touching and it is about madness, so I'll mention it anyway- Shutter Island.
It's about a US marshall that goes to this island that has a mental institute on it to investigate an escaped patient and he ends up suffering from insanity, kinda.... it's hard to explain so here; http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1130884/

Also- I remember an advert about a film called 'Radio'. I'm not sure whether I'm correct, but it seemed to be about a boy with psychological problems who ends up helping his football coach- haha- bad description, I know, but here's a web page if you want to look.... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_(2003_film)

I prefer not to.

Repulsion..... Found this truly disturbing. Catherine Deneuve's performance is amazing.

Purple Noon.... Alain Delon as Ripley chilling.

The Man Who Would Be King.... Sean Connery and Michael Caine One of my favorite movies ...dreams of grandeur realized and the consequences.