Stonehearst Asylum
| Stonehearst Asylum | |
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Teaser poster
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| Directed by | Brad Anderson |
| Produced by | |
| Screenplay by | Joseph Gangemi |
| Based on | "The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether" by Edgar Allan Poe |
| Starring | |
| Music by | John Debney |
| Cinematography | Thomas Yatsko |
| Edited by | Brian Gates |
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Production
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| Distributed by | Millennium Films |
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Release date
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Running time
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113 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Stonehearst Asylum, previously known as Eliza Graves, is an American thriller film directed by Brad Anderson and written by Joseph Gangemi, loosely based on the short story "The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether" by Edgar Allan Poe. The film, starring Kate Beckinsale, Jim Sturgess, Michael Caine, Ben Kingsley, and David Thewlis, was released on October 24, 2014.
In 1899, an Oxford University professor demonstrates a case of female hysteria, Lady (Eliza) Graves (Kate Beckinsale), before his class. The patient is drugged and protesting that she is sane, but the professor points out that all mental patients claim to be sane, much as all criminals claim to be innocent. He ignores her demands that he not touch her to induce a fit for the students to observe. The professor advises his students to believe nothing they hear and only half of what they see.
Later, a young man, the newly-minted Dr. Edward Newgate, (Jim Sturgess), arrives at Stonehearst Asylum on Christmas Eve, where he desires to take up residency. A group of armed men led by Mickey Finn (David Thewlis) allow him entry. Finn escorts him to the office of the superintendent, Dr. Silas Lamb (Ben Kingsley). Although Lamb was not expecting him, despite Newgate having sent letters preceding his arrival, he welcomes the help of an Oxford-educated doctor and grants him the residency.
Newgate is surprised by Lamb's unorthodox methods and uncustomarily humane asylum. Lamb explains that he does not believe in drugging or incarcerating his patients, and he encourages their delusions when he feels it will bring them greater happiness, thus creating a kind and dignified environment at the asylum.
Lady Graves, now a resident at Stonehearst, is introduced to Newgate, who appears immediately smitten. Lamb explains that the Lady Graves has an abusive and painful past. She developed hysteria from enduring her husband's "unnatural appetites" and can no longer bear emotional or physical contact without seizing in hysterical fits. She stabbed her husband in the right eye with a comb and bit off his left ear trying to protect herself, which led to her father committing her into the asylum to escape her marriage to her "monster" of a husband. Her husband has since been trying to free her back into his care. Dr. Lamb is currently prescribing musical therapy for her and refuses to declare her sane, for her own safety.
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