Director David Mackenzie's adaptation of Patrick McGrath's novel is as dark and scheming as any story of sexual obsession turned deadly promises to be.
Similar to his 2004 effort "Young Adam," "Asylum" includes all the necessary elements for a steamy psychological thriller -- the eerie psychiatric hospital setting, the dangerous affair, the risks with irreversible consequences.
Unfortunately, this time around Mackenzie seems to exclude the key ingredient needed for the film to succeed in its mad-with-lust effect, namely, sympathy for the characters shrouded in their own love-struck lunacy.
Nothing leading lady Stella Raphael (Natasha Richardson) does seems to be governed by logic, which could work if we believed she is so blinded by desire that she'll risk everything -- her family, her sanity and even her life -- to be with her lover. But the film fails to establish much compassion for Stella, and without sympathy for her irrational behavior, she's seen as weak and delusional rather than rebellious and passionate.
When her husband, Max, is appointed deputy superintendent at a psychiatric hospital for the criminally insane, she and their 10-year-old Charlie (Gus Lewis) take up residency on the beautifully creepy grounds.
Though it is unclear as to whether or not Stella held a job previously, she now spends her days wandering aimlessly around the remote asylum with nothing to do.
Completely restless and out of her element, Stella demurs interaction with the other (older and mostly conservative) wives and instead takes interest in Edgar (Marton Csokas), an inpatient working as a gardener outside her home.
Edgar is everything that Max is not --passionate, artistic, strikingly handsome and, most importantly, fixated on Stella. The down side? He's been incarcerated for brutally murdering his wife in a raging fit, gaining him a "severe personality disorder with tendencies toward morbid jealously" diagnosis from Dr. Peter Cleve (Ian McKellen), the hospital's specialist in sexual pathology.
Infatuation sets in and a heated affair inevitably ensues. With her husband's career earning the bulk of his attention, Stella's affection for Edgar initially goes unnoticed, but it's not long before whispers of their illicit love spread throughout the grounds. Stella's infidelity now out in the open, she finds her only comfort in Edgar, who shares her longing to escape the hospital.
Edgar succeeds in his escape and Stella follows him to London where they hide out in poverty together.
To no one's surprise, a mental patient with a violently jealous past and a fugitive wife with no money have a less-than-genial relationship outside the cushy bubble of their secret sex tryst. Predictably, the situation goes from bad to desperate, but having almost completely abandoned her former life, Stella has nowhere to turn.
Arguably what sustains this movie are its visual pleasures -- the haunting beauty of the hospital, the remote English countryside -- and more subtle undercurrents of a reoccurring theme. The essence of the asylum itself works beautifully as an extended metaphor throughout the film, fluctuating between the confinement of the hospital, the baring captivity of a stale marriage and the mental imprisonment of obsession.
But despite the tragedy of lives ruined by deception and self-destruction, it's difficult to care about one character's demise more than another. Since neither Stella nor Max nor Edgar evoke the nature of a hero, the audience is left indifferent to the outcome, and the sentiment of ultimate sacrifice, or even actual love, remains undefined.
"Asylum" opens Friday, Sept. 16 at Landmark's Downer Theatre.
OnMilwaukee.com staff writer Julie Lawrence grew up in Wauwatosa and has lived her whole life in the Milwaukee area.
As any “word nerd” can attest, you never know when inspiration will strike, so from a very early age Julie has rarely been seen sans pen and little notebook. At the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee it seemed only natural that she major in journalism. When OnMilwaukee.com offered her an avenue to combine her writing and the city she knows and loves in late 2004, she knew it was meant to be. Around the office, she answers to a plethora of nicknames, including “Lar,” (short for “Larry,” which is short for “Lawrence”) as well as the mysteriously-sourced “Bill Murray.”
