A passionate and challenging portrayal of institutional insanity

Rating: Null/10 (15 October 2000)

This is not a story of good guys and bad guys. A subtle, multi-layered portrait of mental disorder and reactions thereto. Intriguingly, it is eschews fashionable "social constructivist" approach to psychology: that psyches are merely "constructs" of their society/gender/class (take your pick). The heroine, Suzanna, begins by denying her suicidal tendency and signs herself into a psychiatric institute. She becomes acquainted with her inmates and her keepers. This drama, set in the 'Sixties, relays her relationship with the external institution from which she cannot escape and the personal strictures imposed upon herself to which she is bound. "Escape" and the conundrum of escaping oneself is a central remit of this character study. Picaresque in nature, the thematic substance is revealed in the subtle remarks and clamorous exchanges. Unlike "Idioterne", mental disorder is not portrayed as the sole rational reaction to society - that, in a world gone mad, "being mad" is the only authentic (truthful, even) response. This movie surpasses "One Flew . . ." in its depiction of mental illness. We cannot cheer the protagonist at the end, because this is not a cheer-leading exercise. Rather, this is a satisfying evocation of the Mental Health System and its stumbling attempts to prepare people for Normal Life.