Rating: 3.5/5
Virginia (Olivia de Havilland) is sitting on a bench in a park, not knowing where she is. Though we realize she is in an asylum, she cannot deduce where she is or why she is there. She hears voices that convince her not to trust people, even if she thinks she knows them
Through her husband Robert (Mark Stevens), we learn how they met, how he came to recognize her erratic behavior and memory lapses, and her eventual nervous breakdown
Her doctor, Dr. Kik (Leo Genn), initiates performing regular shock treatment on Virginia, sees minimal effect but continues session after session. It takes time and therapy to figure out her story so that she can understand it and reframe it in a way that makes life more bearable
Olivia de Havilland is so good in this. For a 1940s movie about mental illness, she leans towards a more human and considered performance — I learned that she went to several institutions and spent time with actual patients to understand the character better. It took no time for me to care about her, and seeing her cared for
Nurses from these institutions worked to get some of the darker material cut from the film, but we get a glimpse of it in the snake pit — the room of women nearly stacked on top of each other, snapping at each other, unable to relate to one another, unable to get out
The story may have saccharine overtones, but it initiated movements in the US to improve the conditions of mental institutions
Good movie! Very hard to find, but I am glad I found a copy
Stray Thoughts
- I want to go to the best soda shop in town!
- All the women gathered around the nurse with a lit match to light their cigarettes — big mood
- Everyone singing Dvorak’s “Goin’ Home” at the dance was so sad
- A movie where the leads don’t end up in love? That’s an achievement in and of itself