Mesmer

Let's do a talent check, shall we? Writer: brilliant departed scribe Dennis Potter (The Singing Detective, Pennies from Heaven). Director: generally reliable Roger Spottiswoode (Under Fire, Tomorrow Never Dies) Star: casually riveting Alan Rickman (Galaxy Quest, Sense and Sensibility, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves). Composer: Glass-like Michael Nyman (Gattaca, The Piano, The End of the Affair) So, why have we never heard of this 1994 bio-pic of the controversial 18th century healer (charlatan? psychiatrist? genius?) Franx Anton Mesmer (Rickman), to whom we owe that critic's adjectival helpmate "mesmerizing"? I think you know the answer. In this, the "Director's Cut" (a confusing distinction, since it is identical, time-wise, to the theatrical version [according to IMDB] and falls pretty much into the PG-13 category), we follow Mesmer's adventures in "animal magnetism," from mid-1770s to mid-1780s (the high point of his career) as he attracts the attention of the medical community (for whom the first line of treatment is to liberally bleed the patient). Since we enter Mesmer's life in media res, so to speak, the audience is left somewhat in the dark regarding the development of Mesmer's theories (or even what his "cure" actually entails), having to settle instead for mysterious doings involving water submersion (occasionally) or holding onto rods. The centerpiece of this slow-moving tale is Mesmer's work in Vienna with a young woman pianist Maria Theresa Paradis (Amanda Ooms), whose blindness was temporarily reversed by Mesmer (I won't reveal more than that), followed by his exile to Paris, where he "treated great ladies with small diseases" and other silver spoon hysterics. Unlikely, thanks to its stately pace and fuzzy science, to be mesmerizing to many viewers. Not recommended. (R. Pitman)