contains spoilers
*****
Jodie Foster, despite her stand-out performance as psychiatrist Lilian Steiner, cannot elevate this film from mediocrity. The muddled plot and over dependence on filmic cliches are symptoms of pretentiousness in the absence of clear purpose.
The twin occupations of psychiatry and hypnotism lend themselves to the psychological thriller. Hitchcock might have engaged with these plot devices sixty years ago. He certainly used the vertical view down the spiral staircase favoured by director Rebecca Zlotowski, and the night-time driving through pouring rain to add tension and mental strain. But we have moved on, surely. Add to this the reference to the swastika and visions of Nazi oppression as Lilian descends into sub consciousness at the behest of her mysterious hypnotist. The images are familiar, but the message of this film is bewilderingly obscure.
Lilian, who makes her living unravelling peoples’ complex relationships, is the epitome of dysfunctional. She has long separated from her husband, but reunites awkwardly with him; she has failed in her relationship with her son and daughter in law and shows no interest in her infant grandchild; her professional life is a mess, and it would appear that a hypnotist is instantly more effective in helping a client stop smoking than she is. But is that what psychiatrists strive for? To help people stop smoking? We are mildly amused but not further enlightened by the end of the film, when, thanks to another cliché, Lilian reunites happily with her son and grandchild, cradling the latter in her arms whilst bottle feeding him, a picture of the motherhood that she has previously not entertained.
French speaking Foster, as Lilian, struggles to come to terms with the death by suicide of a patient/client. The audience is suspicious that Lilian's personal involvement may be preventing her from realising her professional misconduct may have contributed to the tragedy, while she leads her ex-husband down the somewhat wacky path of super sleuth investigating an interfamilial murder.
Is this a film about psychiatry, psychology, the complexities of the human mind? It could have been, but the director seems preoccupied with weaving an unlikely and unconvincing plot of intrigue and self-delusion.
Given the excellent cast, this was an opportunity missed.
