Painfully Mesmerizing

Rating: 7/10 (29 April 2020)

I tend to admire films that de-romanticize history but not necessarily with those that try to make misery amusing. While the performances in this film are astonishing, it is agonizing to watch the pain these characters endure, and there is precious little comedy in it, at least to my way of thinking. Although this film does force us to imagine what it must have been like to live without an effective treatment for gout, it absolutely drills the point into our heads. The scene in which a woman is dragged by a horse through the forest is agonizing. Have movie-goers reached the point where they must have their noses rubbed in agony before they get the point? The lesbian scenes are among the saddest in film history. The moral of this story: Do not get your history from movies.