Plot
A look at the relationship between pioneering 19th century French neurologist Dr. Jean-Martin Charcot and his star teenage patient, a kitchen maid who is left partially paralyzed after a seizure.
Release Year: 2012
Rating: 6.0/10 (178 voted)
Director:Alice Winocour
Storyline
A look at the relationship between pioneering 19th century French neurologist Dr. Jean-Martin Charcot and his star teenage patient, a kitchen maid who is left partially paralyzed after a seizure.
Release Date:
Technical Specs
Runtime:
Did You Know?
Trivia:
The role of Charcot was originally designed for Benoît Poelvoorde. See more »
User Review
The chance to make a good film was missed
Rating: 6/10
**SPOILER FREE***
I couldn't write this entire review without spoilers but I'll write a
short one without any. This is the story of Augustine, a 19 year-old
woman who is sent to an asylum because she has crises and is apparently
'possessed.' She is treated by Charcot (Vincent Lindon) who was a real
french doctor who worked with hypnosis to treat hysteria and made
several advances in the field of Parkinson and sclerosis.
Here however, Charcot's skills seem mostly to take off girl's clothes.
Nothing is said about what Charcot really does or why he does it. He
uses hypnosis to observe Augustine's crises but he doesn't really seem
to care for the other patient. He quite obviously wants to sleep with
Augustine and has a really nice monkey at home. That's what I walked
away from.
The film itself would have been quite good if not for major plot holes.
Vincent Lindon whom I love, was quite fantastic in this, as usual, as
was the girl playing Augustine. It seems the film is going somewhere
until the very end when you realize it really isn't. It's too bad
because, because Augustine was 'almost' a very good film.
***SPOILERS***
Augustine, following one of the biggest crisis is left with paralysis
on her right side (it seems she can still move however, but she can't
open her eye and she can't feel anything.) She is obviously sexually
repressed and at age 19, still doesn't have her period. Charcot writes
in his diary that she is starting to feel better. She had a dream that
animals were being bled and now she has her period! Like magic, because
Charcot really didn't do anything in the film, as far as we're aware.
Then she has another crisis and the paralysis moves to her left side.
But she can still move everything except for her arm. Charcot undresses
her a few times and decides he wants to present her to the academy to
get more funding. But just before the presentation, she falls down the
stairs and can move her arm! So she decides that she is healed (even
though her main issue was her recurring crises) and she fakes a crisis
at the academy, going all out to touch herself while looking Charcot in
the eye. Huge sexual build up of course, so Charcot leaves everyone at
the academy to go have sex with Augustine and then he lets her escape
the asylum.
So what is the morale of the film? No one realized just because her
paralysis is temporarily gone doesn't mean she is healed? Was she just
so horny it caused her not to move? They had really good substance and
wasted it to make this film a sexual affair between Charcot and
Augustine. I did still enjoy the film beyond that, I am disappointed.
0