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Documentary

Stutz

Directed by Jonah Hill

2022 · 1 h 36 min · Summary updated 3 November 2026

Jonah Hill's documentary about his psychiatrist, Phil Stutz, and the simple drawn tools Stutz uses to help patients handle pain, fear and change. For anyone curious about practical therapy.

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The gist

In Stutz, Jonah Hill talks with his psychiatrist, Phil Stutz, about the tools Stutz draws on cards. The core claim is that pain, uncertainty and constant work are part of every life, so the aim is to keep moving, not to escape them. Stutz names the inner force that blocks change Part X: it builds a perfect picture of life, traps you in thoughts about fairness, and hides the parts of you that you dislike. His tools (Life Force, the String of Pearls, Active Love, the Grateful Flow and others) are short exercises that turn that stuck energy into action. Halfway through, Hill reveals how he staged the documentary, and it becomes a study of the two men.

Key ideas

  1. 01

    Pain, uncertainty and constant work never go away

    Stutz calls these three facts the aspects of reality. He argues that no amount of money, fame or success removes them, so a plan to reach a life without pain or effort rests on a false premise. The documentary treats acceptance of these facts as the first step, not as a defeat. Once you stop waiting for them to end, you can put your energy into the next action. Every tool Stutz teaches assumes that the pain and the doubt will still be there tomorrow.

  2. 02

    Part X is the voice that tells you not to change

    Stutz names the inner force that opposes growth Part X. It creates fear and self-doubt, and tells you to wait for a better moment. Stutz says Part X never disappears, even in people who seem to have everything. The job is to recognize its voice when it speaks and to act anyway. In the documentary, many of Hill's own doubts about himself and his work are framed as Part X talking.

  3. 03

    Life Force starts with the body

    Stutz draws Life Force as a pyramid with three levels. The base is your relationship with your body: sleep, exercise and diet. The middle is your relationship with other people. The top is your relationship with yourself, which he says you build through practices such as journaling. When a patient feels lost or depressed, Stutz sends them back to the base first. His reasoning is that the lower levels supply energy to the upper ones, so a walk and a good night's sleep come before deep self-analysis.

  4. 04

    The String of Pearls: every action counts the same

    Stutz pictures a life of action as a string of pearls. Each pearl is one action, and each has equal value, whether it is brushing your teeth or ending a relationship. Each pearl also has a dark spot, because no action is perfect. The task is simply to add the next pearl. The image is aimed at Part X, which wants you to wait until you can make the perfect move. Stutz argues that steady, imperfect action builds momentum that big plans alone never produce.

  5. 05

    The Snapshot and the Maze keep you out of real life

    The Snapshot is a frozen mental image of a perfect life, with no problems in it. It ignores pain, uncertainty and work, so real life always looks worse by comparison. The Maze is a loop of thoughts about fairness: you wait for an apology or for justice before you move on. Stutz presents both as traps that Part X builds to stop you from acting in the present. His answer to the Maze is Active Love, a short visualization in which you send loving energy toward the person you resent.

  6. 06

    Talk to your Shadow instead of hiding it

    The Shadow is the part of yourself you feel ashamed of. For Hill, it is the overweight teenager he used to be. Stutz asks him to picture that boy, look at him, and talk to him, instead of trying to bury him. The argument is that a rejected part of yourself does not go away; it keeps pulling energy from you in hidden ways. Accepting it returns that energy. This section leads to some of the most personal moments in the documentary, including Hill's account of public comments about his body.

  7. 07

    The tools work only through repetition

    Stutz describes his tools as exercises, not insights. Each one, from the Grateful Flow to Loss Processing, takes a few seconds and is meant to be used many times a day, at the moment a feeling hits. The documentary shows him returning to the same drawings again and again with Hill over years. The message is that understanding a problem changes little by itself; the daily practice is what changes how a person feels and acts.

Where to watch

Availability in the US. Services change their catalogs, so check the price on the service before you pay.

Full summary

A therapist on camera

Stutz is a 2022 documentary directed by actor Jonah Hill. Its subject is Phil Stutz, the Los Angeles psychiatrist who has treated Hill for years. Netflix released it in November 2022.

The documentary is shot mostly in black and white. Most of it is the two men in chairs, facing each other, talking. Hill asks the questions a patient would ask. Stutz answers with drawings. He sketches each idea on a small card, and simple line animation brings the sketches to life on screen.

Hill says he made it to share Stutz's life story and to bring the tools that helped him to a wider audience. Stutz does not work like a quiet listener. He talks a lot, he swears, he jokes, and he gives the patient something to do. The documentary calls these exercises the tools.

Two personal stories run underneath the lessons. Stutz has Parkinson's disease, and in one session Hill reminds him to take his medication. He talks about his younger brother, who died when Stutz was nine, and about how his parents' grief shaped his wish to help people. Hill, for his part, keeps steering away from his own grief. His older brother, Jordan, died in December 2017.

Three facts of life: pain, uncertainty and constant work

Stutz starts from what he calls the three aspects of reality: pain, uncertainty and constant work. He argues that nobody escapes them. Money, fame and success do not remove them. A plan to reach a point where life no longer hurts or demands effort is, in his view, a plan built on a false premise.

This framing matters for everything that follows. The tools do not promise a life without pain. They aim to help a person keep moving while the pain, the doubt and the effort continue. Stutz presents acceptance of these three facts as the entry ticket to change, not as a sign of defeat.

Part X and the traps it builds

Stutz names the force that blocks change Part X. In the documentary, it is the inner voice that creates fear and self-doubt and tells a person that they cannot change or that they should wait. Stutz says Part X never fully goes away. The task is to notice it and act anyway.

Part X works through several traps, and Stutz has a drawing for each one:

  • The Snapshot. A frozen mental picture of a perfect life, with no problems in it. It feels like a goal, but it has no movement and no depth, and it ignores the three aspects of reality. Chasing it keeps a person dissatisfied with the real life in front of them.
  • The Maze. A loop of thoughts about fairness. Someone hurt you, and you wait for an apology, for justice, or for the other person to see they were wrong. While you wait, life stops. Stutz presents the Maze as a way Part X keeps you stuck in the past.
  • The Shadow. The part of yourself you feel ashamed of and try to hide. Hill's Shadow is the overweight teenager he used to be. Stutz asks him to picture that boy, talk to him, and stop rejecting him.

The Shadow section leads to some of the most personal moments in the documentary. Hill talks about his weight as a teenager and about years of public comments on his body after he became famous.

Life Force and the String of Pearls

When a patient feels lost or depressed, Stutz goes back to Life Force. He draws it as a pyramid with three levels. The base is your relationship with your body: sleep, exercise and food. The middle is your relationship with other people. The top is your relationship with yourself, which Stutz says you build through practices such as journaling. He argues that work on the lower levels feeds the upper ones, so the body is the first place to start.

The String of Pearls is Stutz's picture of steady action. Each pearl is one action. Every pearl has equal value, whether you brush your teeth, send an email or end a relationship. Each pearl also has a dark spot, which stands for the fact that no action is perfect. The point is to keep adding pearls. The documentary presents this as an answer to Part X, which wants you to wait for the perfect move before you do anything.

Tools for when you are stuck

The second half of the documentary adds tools for specific problems. Each is a short visualization that takes a few seconds.

  • Active Love. Stutz's answer to the Maze. You picture a universe of loving energy, take it into your heart, and send it to the person you resent. The goal is not to approve of what they did. It is to free yourself from the loop.
  • Radical Acceptance. Stutz treats it as the answer to judgment of yourself, other people and the future. To accept is not to approve. It means you let a fact be what it is, so you can respond to it.
  • The Grateful Flow. Stutz compares low mood to a cloud that blocks the sun. You name things you are grateful for, one after another, until the gratitude builds enough force to break through.
  • Loss Processing. A practice of non-attachment. You picture letting go of what you hold, falling gently, and giving instead of grasping. Stutz uses it for the fear of losing what you have.

Stutz stresses that the tools work through repetition. Insight alone, in his telling, changes little. The daily practice is what changes a person.

The reveal: Hill and Stutz turn the camera on themselves

About halfway through, Hill breaks the format. He tells the viewer that the documentary was not shot in one tidy series of sessions. It was made over a long period on a set built to look like Stutz's office, with a green screen, and Hill wore a wig to keep his look consistent between shoots. He says he does not want to pretend.

From that point the documentary turns. The lessons give way to the relationship between the two men. Stutz pushes Hill to talk about his brother and about his mother, Sharon, who appears on screen to talk about Hill's childhood. Stutz also talks about his hard relationship with his own mother and his struggle with emotional intimacy. The final scenes return to the bond between the two men.

What the critics say

Most reviews were positive, but several critics pointed to limits. David Ehrlich of IndieWire wrote that the documentary is more for Hill than for the viewer, and that Hill's staging distracts from Stutz's lessons. RogerEbert.com's Nick Allen found the opening stuffy and the editing distracting. Psychotherapist James Davies, speaking to Vice, called it engaging but said a documentary and a few borrowed exercises cannot replace good long-term therapy in person.

Who should watch it

Watch it if you want a short, practical set of mental tools and you like to learn from drawings and conversation. It also suits anyone who is curious about what a hands-on therapist does in a session. Treat it as an introduction, not as a substitute for treatment.

Do this week

Flashcards

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Quiz

Question 1 of 5

According to Stutz, which three things does no one escape?

Questions this documentary answers

What is the Stutz documentary about?

Stutz is a 2022 Netflix documentary directed by Jonah Hill about his psychiatrist, Phil Stutz. In filmed conversations, Stutz explains the visual tools he uses with patients, such as Life Force, Part X and the String of Pearls. Halfway through, Hill reveals how he staged it, and it turns into a portrait of the bond between therapist and patient, including Hill's grief for his brother.

What is Part X in Stutz?

Part X is Phil Stutz's name for the inner force that blocks change. It creates fear and self-doubt, tells you to wait for a better moment, and builds traps such as the Snapshot (a perfect picture of life) and the Maze (a loop of thoughts about fairness). Stutz says it never goes away; you notice it and act anyway.

What are the three levels of Life Force in Stutz?

Stutz draws Life Force as a pyramid. The base is your relationship with your body (sleep, exercise, diet), the middle is your relationship with other people, and the top is your relationship with yourself. When you feel stuck, he says to start at the base, because the lower levels feed the upper ones.

Can Stutz replace therapy?

No, and the documentary does not claim to. It introduces Phil Stutz's tools and shows how he works with one patient. Psychotherapist James Davies, speaking to Vice, called it engaging but said watching it and borrowing a few exercises cannot replace good long-term therapy in person.

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