User Reviews

It's a Hungarian movie about the relationship of a psychiatrist and his patient, which has an uncontrollable impulse to write (some kind of diary). The relationship starts getting deeper and deeper to the point of the madwoman think they're "husband and wife"…

The plot is set in the beginning of the 20th century and it's always passed inside an institution (for mad people). The movie has artsy cinematography (in the "traditional" European way) but it's too slow paced and boring at parts. However, the plot, the acting and the production are not bad, but even so I can't score it more than 5/10 because of its melancholy!

This is a powerful film that had me riveted to my seat during its entire length. The acting of the entire cast - especially the two lead characters - is absolutely brilliant, the script is well- crafted & believable and the photography is both hauntingly beautiful and absolutely bone- chilling.

The film focuses on the deep and disturbing relationship that develops between the opium- addicted Dr Brenner (Ulrich Thomsen), a doctor who arrives to work in an institute for the insane in the early 1900s, and his patient Gizella (beautifully portrayed by Norwegian Kirsti Stubo). She is a long-term inmate who is obsessed with the idea that she has been possessed by the devil, and whose only release from her inner torments is to write compulsively and almost non-stop in her diaries. Brenner's professional interest in Gizella becomes complicated by his growing envy of the fact that she can write so freely and passionately, while he - an aspiring writer - struggles to put any words on paper. Their relationship is further complicated by a powerful mutual desire that develops between them, culminating in an intense sexual episode, and by the fact that Brenner begins to appropriate Gizella's writings, which he plans to pass off as his own. Gizella comes to believe that the sexual relationship between her and Brenner means that they are now "husband and wife", and her condition appears to improve. However, when Brenner repudiates & mocks her belief in front of the head of the institution (played with just the right amount of icy arrogance by Zsolt Laszlo), she becomes hysterical. Her madness returns and even increases in intensity. During the ensuing treatment - which is more like torture - Gizella begs Brenner to give her relief from her ongoing torment by "removing my brain". Brenner's subsequent actions provides the climax to this powerful film.

The depiction of the horrific treatment inflicted on psychiatric patients in the early years of last century may be deeply disturbing to many, but it is absolutely truthful. Electroshock therapy, ice-water showers, force-feeding, total confinement and even frontal lobotomies (crude brain surgery) were part of accepted medical practice of the time for those considered "insane". I absolutely disagree with those who have described this film as "exploitive' - it simply shows the situation in all its grim reality pretty much exactly as it was back then. In fact many of these forms of treatment were continued until the late 1950s, even in supposedly enlightened countries like Australia.

In summary, a riveting and beautifully crafted film that will leave you with haunting memories for years to come.

Geza Csath was a psychiatric doctor and author in Hungary in the early 20th century, who fell prey to addiction, was institutionalized, and ultimately killed his wife and committed suicide at the age of 32, in 1919. Opium, although not a biopic, is based on some of his autobiographical writings. (There is a succinct entry about him at Wikipedia.)

This movie is beautifully made, with brilliant acting and lots of atmosphere, but it is not an "entertainment." The two people in this movie feel a need to create and to connect, but these acts do not "redeem" them. This movie is about insanity, addiction, and human frailty, and should not be approached casually.

I watched the film in the original Magyar, with English subtitles, but there appears to be an English-dubbed version as well, in which the multilingual lead actor provides his own voice.

I am used to seeing twisted Hungarian movies like this, cruelty and negativity taken to extremes, think Kontroll and Taxidermia. The intended effect is to elicit strong conflicting and contrasting emotions, on the background of the instincts exacerbated by addiction and madness respectively in the lead characters, which eventually overcome all education and inhibitions.

On the other hand I ask you to think about a nation that lost 2/3 of its territories after WW1 along with every battle it fought since 1848, with almost half of Hungarians living abroad and hated by all of its formerly dominated neighbors, with one of highest suicide rates in EU. Is it then any wonder that the minds of these directors are so twisted?

In the interest of historical accuracy the first "icepick" transorbital lobotomy had not been performed earlier than at least 1946.

A great movie, I absolutely loved it and strongly recommend to all. I already ordered the DVD.