Asylum

Part gothic romance, part thriller, and part cautionary tale, this is the story of a woman, bored in her marriage, whose weakness sets of a tragic chain of events.

Set in Britain in the 1950's, Natasha Richardson plays Stella, the wife of a psychoanalyst hired by an insane asylum. Her marriage is a bit iffy and we get strong hints that she has spoken and behaved in ways in the past that have not much helped her husband's career.

She has a 10-ish boy she obviously loves dearly.

And yet...she finds herself strongly attractive to a trustee inmate, Edgar, repairing their house's greenhouse. Resisting her impulses at first, and after dancing with him at the Asylum Ball (a mixer involving both the Asylum's staff and inmates), her interest in him grows so intense that one afternoon she sneaks off to the greenhouse and without even uttering a word makes her body available to him.

Bear in mind that by now she has heard Edgar's story, that he murdered, mutilated, and beheaded his wife.

Edgar is the pet patient of the impeccably dressed elderly psychoanalyst, Peter (Ian McKellen) who competes with her husband for the position of Superintendant of the Asylum.

One day, Edgar wanders into their home after Stella's mother-in-law takes the boy on an outing. Having forgotten something, the mother-in-law returns home with the boy in tow. The boy stumbles upon Edgar in the act of escaping and once on the road again mentions it to the mother-in-law, who stops the car. Edgar, who has secreted himself in the car's trunk uses this moment to exit the car and make good his escape.

Stella is now in disgrace and vows to recommit to her marriage and family. However, she receives a message from Edgar and begins visiting him in his lair in London. Eventually, she gives in to his entreaties to move in with him, so she abandons her husband and child and moves to London to live with him and his assistant/roommate.

The nasty, jealous side of Edgar's nature comes out as the bloom wears off of her relationship with him, he beats her badly, and now Stella is trapped in another unsatisfying relationship. Luckily, the police finally catch up with her and she is sent back to the Asylum where she once again recommits to the marriage.

Unfortunately, her husband has been relieved of his position and now they shall have to move to Wales, where he has obtained another job.

After a while, Edgar figures out where they are and gets in touch with Stella. This is where I would have ended the movie (after he finally murders her and possibly her entire family as well) but the movie isn't finished just yet and the rest of the film has a rather "tacked on" feeling to it that struck me as a flaw.

In her younger days, Natasha Richardson was one of the great English screen beauties. Today, she's still attractive in a MILFish way and we see her in several scenes where she's either nude or clad in garters and stockings. Not half bad!

As is typical of British films, the acting is fine. It's the story that sucks. Even so, the movie is worth seeing if only as a cautionary tale to writers and directors of the future to try to know when the story is over.