A Hole In One
So yesterday I attended a cocktail party for, and a screening of, the film "A Hole in One". Let me give you all the details.
As some of you know, I live on Long Island, a suburb of New York City. I took the train into Manhattan, a pleasant experience when it's off-peak, and walked down to the Chelsea apartment of psychoanalyst Dr. Paola Mieli. Both Dr. Mieli and her apartment were absolutely gorgeous, she with a kind smile and beautiful face, the apartment with light oak wood everywhere.
The people at the party were very New York in that they were a highly educated, artsy crowd. One man emerged and introduced himself as Richard Ledes, the director of the film "A Hole in One". He told me about his interest in the topic of psychosurgery and how he had worked for many years to get the film made. The script alone took over three years to write (and rewrite and rewrite).
I met publicists for the film and one of the actors, as well as Jack El Hai, the author of "The Lobotomist". Jack was nice and seemed to forgive me for not reviewing his book yet. Later in the evening I asked him why he had to call Freeman a genius in the title of his book, and he said he believed that Freeman was a genius in ability and capacity, though he may not have applied his genius in a way that we would have liked. Yuck, Jack. He did say that he thought that Freeman was a manipulator, especially when it came to generating glowing press coverage for lobotomy. He agreed that today's media coverage of current techniques like deep brain stimulation is frighteningly similar, so I decided to forgive him for the genius thing.
We all walked together over to the theater where the film was being shown. With cola and popcorn in hand, I settled in to watch a film that I believed was not gory at all. Boy, was I mistaken. One of the greatest ironies of my life is that, while I am devoted to the study of lobotomy, I am incredibly squeamish. I was in for one wild ride.
It all started nicely enough. The film takes place during "Mental Health Week" when the population is urged to do what it can to fight communism by being screened for mental illness. You see, "every tenth man" is mentally ill and needs treatment. The lobotomy doctor is named Walter Ashton, obviously suggestive of Walter Freeman.
The film stars that pretty blonde woman from Dawson's Creek, Michelle Williams, who is considering a lobotomy because it "will help her to forget", and she thinks that forgetting is the key to being happy. She's trying to forget Meat Loaf Aday who plays her violent gangster boyfriend.
There are several interesting juxtapositions in the film - electricity is used both for execution and shock therapy. An icepick is a murder weapon or a medical instrument. At one point Michelle Williams' character talks about wanting a lobotomy because she "needs another hole". Paging Dr. Freud.
But then there is The Big Scene (in my mind). A man comes into Walter Ashton's office for alcoholism treatment, and is graphically and brutally lobotomized in a very disturbing scene. And it's not just me being hypersensitive - people actually screamed during the Tribeca Film Festival. I can't tell you how bad it was because I covered my eyes and ears -I could not take it. Of course, a few scenes later the man is back in the bar, still a drunk but now a lobotomized one.
At the end of the screening we got to see the "dummy", actually a very complex and expensive piece of equipment, which was used in the scene.
When the film was over Richard Ledes was available for questions, many involving the symbolism he chose.
As I walked back up to Penn Station to catch a train home, I found myself grateful for people who care about and see the injustice in what happened. In the past few weeks I've heard lobotomy poetry, read a lobotomy book, and seen a lobotomy film. Someone needs to write a lobotomy play now ...
The film is opening May 6th in NYC at Village East Cinemas and May 13th in Los Angeles at the Laemmle Fairfax. Eventually a DVD will be available. Please see it if you can, and I will let people know when the DVD is available.
I want to take a moment to thank Richard for making a film about this topic, and for inviting me to the screening.
As some of you know, I live on Long Island, a suburb of New York City. I took the train into Manhattan, a pleasant experience when it's off-peak, and walked down to the Chelsea apartment of psychoanalyst Dr. Paola Mieli. Both Dr. Mieli and her apartment were absolutely gorgeous, she with a kind smile and beautiful face, the apartment with light oak wood everywhere.
The people at the party were very New York in that they were a highly educated, artsy crowd. One man emerged and introduced himself as Richard Ledes, the director of the film "A Hole in One". He told me about his interest in the topic of psychosurgery and how he had worked for many years to get the film made. The script alone took over three years to write (and rewrite and rewrite).
I met publicists for the film and one of the actors, as well as Jack El Hai, the author of "The Lobotomist". Jack was nice and seemed to forgive me for not reviewing his book yet. Later in the evening I asked him why he had to call Freeman a genius in the title of his book, and he said he believed that Freeman was a genius in ability and capacity, though he may not have applied his genius in a way that we would have liked. Yuck, Jack. He did say that he thought that Freeman was a manipulator, especially when it came to generating glowing press coverage for lobotomy. He agreed that today's media coverage of current techniques like deep brain stimulation is frighteningly similar, so I decided to forgive him for the genius thing.
We all walked together over to the theater where the film was being shown. With cola and popcorn in hand, I settled in to watch a film that I believed was not gory at all. Boy, was I mistaken. One of the greatest ironies of my life is that, while I am devoted to the study of lobotomy, I am incredibly squeamish. I was in for one wild ride.
It all started nicely enough. The film takes place during "Mental Health Week" when the population is urged to do what it can to fight communism by being screened for mental illness. You see, "every tenth man" is mentally ill and needs treatment. The lobotomy doctor is named Walter Ashton, obviously suggestive of Walter Freeman.
The film stars that pretty blonde woman from Dawson's Creek, Michelle Williams, who is considering a lobotomy because it "will help her to forget", and she thinks that forgetting is the key to being happy. She's trying to forget Meat Loaf Aday who plays her violent gangster boyfriend.
There are several interesting juxtapositions in the film - electricity is used both for execution and shock therapy. An icepick is a murder weapon or a medical instrument. At one point Michelle Williams' character talks about wanting a lobotomy because she "needs another hole". Paging Dr. Freud.
But then there is The Big Scene (in my mind). A man comes into Walter Ashton's office for alcoholism treatment, and is graphically and brutally lobotomized in a very disturbing scene. And it's not just me being hypersensitive - people actually screamed during the Tribeca Film Festival. I can't tell you how bad it was because I covered my eyes and ears -I could not take it. Of course, a few scenes later the man is back in the bar, still a drunk but now a lobotomized one.
At the end of the screening we got to see the "dummy", actually a very complex and expensive piece of equipment, which was used in the scene.
When the film was over Richard Ledes was available for questions, many involving the symbolism he chose.
As I walked back up to Penn Station to catch a train home, I found myself grateful for people who care about and see the injustice in what happened. In the past few weeks I've heard lobotomy poetry, read a lobotomy book, and seen a lobotomy film. Someone needs to write a lobotomy play now ...
The film is opening May 6th in NYC at Village East Cinemas and May 13th in Los Angeles at the Laemmle Fairfax. Eventually a DVD will be available. Please see it if you can, and I will let people know when the DVD is available.
I want to take a moment to thank Richard for making a film about this topic, and for inviting me to the screening.
posted by Christine at Tuesday, April 19, 2005
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