(1962) David & Lisa

David and Lisa is a 1962 American drama film directed by Frank Perry. It is based on the second story in the novel Jordi, Lisa and David by Theodore Isaac Rubin; the screenplay, written by Frank Perry's wife Eleanor Perry (born Rosenfeld), tells the story of a bright young man suffering from a mental illness which, among other symptoms, has instilled a fear of being touched in him. This lands him in a residential treatment center, where he meets Lisa, a similarly ill young woman who displays a split personality.

The film earned Perry a nomination for the 1963 Academy Award for Directing and one for Eleanor Perry for her Screenplay.

The film was later adapted into a stage play in 1967 and a made-for-television film in 1998.

The film starts as David Clemens (Keir Dullea) is brought to a residential treatment center by his apparently caring mother (Neva Patterson). He becomes very upset when one of the residents brushes his hand, as he believes touches can kill him. Cold and distant, he mainly concentrates on his studies, especially that of clocks, with which he appears to be obsessed. It is later revealed that he has a recurring dream in which he murders people by means of a giant clock.

He meets Lisa Brandt (Janet Margolin), a girl who has two personalities: one of them, Lisa, can only speak in rhymes, while the other, Muriel, cannot speak, but only write. David befriends her by talking to her in rhymes. Over time he begins to open up to his psychiatrist, Dr. Alan Swinford (Howard Da Silva) and also becomes friendly with another resident, Simon (Mathew Anden), provoking Lisa's jealousy. Following an argument when his mother visits, David's parents decide he should leave the place. He returns to his parents' house, but after a short time, runs away to the treatment center, where he is allowed to stay.

One day Lisa realizes that she is both Lisa and Muriel and that they are the same person. After this breakthrough, she seeks out David, but he is busy listening to Simon play a Bach piece on the piano. Lisa turns on the metronome, interrupting Simon's playing and provoking David's anger. Then, Lisa runs away from the center and takes the train into Center City, Philadelphia, unnoticed. David and the staff fruitlessly search for her until the next morning, when David realizes she might have returned to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, where she had once embraced a statue of a mother and child. David and Dr. Swinford rush to the museum, where David finds Lisa on the museum steps. Upon seeing David, Lisa appears to be cured and speaks to him in prose. David, overcoming his own fear of touch for the first time, allows her to hold his hand on their return trip.