Of Two Minds is a pretty good documentary about Bipolar. I saw another one called Up/Down on youtube quite a while ago but can't remember what I thought of it. Stephen Fry made a documentary called The Secret Life of the Manic-Depressive. I think it might be on youtube or netflix.

People seem to have mixed reactions to this, but Claire Danes does a pretty good job of playing a character suffering from Bipolar type 1. There are some problems with the way the show portrays BD, but her manic episodes are the most realistic I've seen on TV.

In Melancholia, Kirsten Dunst played a character with an unspecified mental illness, which is probably Bipolar Disorder. Its depiction of Bipolar Depression is spot-on for me, but I know there are varying levels of depression and it won't be representative of everyone.

People seem to like Silver Linings Playbook, but I hate it. I'm not convinced that the lead character has anything resembling manic-depression.

Good luck!!!