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IN A NUTSHELL...

The Story: Natasha Richardson stars in this 1959-set drama as bored housewife Stella Raphael, who falls in lust with a patient (Marton Csokas) at the psychiatric hospital where her dreary husband (Hugh Bonneville) works. Sir Ian McKellen plays the psychiatric doctor who takes a particular interest in the dangerous liaison. Long in development, Asylum is based upon the novel by Patrick McGrath and was adapted for the screen by Patrick Marber (Closer). The film is directed by David Mackenzie, who previously helmed the excellent Young Adam.
Useless Fact: Silence Of The Lambs helmer Jonathan Demme was at one point attached to direct the movie.

VIDEO...

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THE REVIEWS...

"The attention to period in this adaptation of Patrick McGrath's 1996 novel - a remote English asylum at the close of the 1950s - is superb" (3/5)

"The film looks beautiful; the broken down gothic walls of the mental hospital are the perfect backdrop to the demise of the rational mind" (5/7)

"It's Ian McKellen's pernicious scheming that provides Asylum's real intrigue" (3/5)

"After the slow burn of Young Adam, Mackenzie actually cranks it down for this almost subliminal rumble about passions and cruelty" (2/5)

"Director David Mackenzie makes a game stab at Patrick McGrath's source novel but never quite brings it off" (2/5)

"Never has a tale of amour fou seemed as dour and depressing as that of Asylum" (2/5)

"David Mackenzie's third film is a misjudged melodrama set in the uptight 1950s with LOTS OF SUDDEN SHOUTING" (1/5)

WEB WATCH...

Asylum
Official site

"They think I'm the tortured love chappy"
Patrick Marber interview

"My back was cut to ribbons"
Natasha Richardson interview

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