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Asylum
- Director: David Mackenzie
- Writer: Patrick McGrath; Patrick Marber
- Producer: David E. Allen; Michael Barlow
CGiii Comment
Hugely controlled - crisp, clean and straight to the point - this is sophisticated film-making.
McKellen is suitably disturbing with his obsession, the rest of the cast simply do a fine job.
MacKenzie makes it look so easy for such difficult genre.
Trailer...
The(ir) Blurb...
In the 50's, the psychiatrist Max Raphael is hired to work as superintendent of an asylum in the outskirts of London, and he moves with his wife Stella Raphael and their son Charlie. Stella has a passionless marriage and is ignored by Max; her boredom changes when her son befriends the handsome inmate Edgar Stark, an sculptor that in a crisis of jealousy had killed and disfigured his wife, and that is treated by Dr. Peter Cleave, an ambitious psychiatrist that aspired Max's position. During the afternoons, Stella has a hot adulterous affair with Edgar until the day he escapes and their affair is discovered. Stella has to take a decision between her family and her wild passion for Edgar.
Cast & Characters
Natasha Richardson as Stella Raphael;
Hugh Bonneville as Max Raphael;
Gus Lewis as Charlie Raphael;
Ian McKellen as Dr. Peter Cleave;
Joss Ackland as Jack Straffen;
Wanda Ventham as Bridie Straffen;
Sara Thurston as Mrs. Rose;
Alwyne Taylor as Monica;
Maria Aitken as Claudia Greene;
Hazel Douglas as Lilly;
Anna Keaveney as Mrs. Bain;
Marton Csokas as Edgar Stark;
Robert Willox as John Archer;
Judy Parfitt as Brenda Raphael;
Sean Harris as Nick