Stonehearst Asylum

In 1899, recently graduated physician Edward Newgate (Jim Sturgess) accepts an assistant position at the remotely situated Stonehearst Asylum, where 200 mentally disturbed members of Victorian England's most distinguished families—including a relative of the Queen—are incarcerated. Welcomed on Christmas Eve by its dour superintendent, Dr. Silas Lamb (Ben Kingsley), Edward is informed that the institution's methods are progressive—in accordance with the non-traditional belief that if psychotic patients are treated with compassion, they will eventually recover. Edward is immediately bewitched by elegant pianist Eliza Graves (Kate Beckinsale), a trembling hysteric who was committed after allegedly assaulting her husband because he forced his abhorrent sexual preferences upon her. Eliza warns Edward that things are not as they seem, leading him to harbor suspicions about: enigmatic Dr. Lamb's menacing gatekeeper/bodyguard (David Thewlis), a depraved professor (Brendan Gleeson), the previous administrator (Michael Caine), a head nurse (Sinéad Cusack), and what is really happening in the subterranean dungeon beneath the gothic façade of this medieval madhouse. Inspired by Edgar Allan Poe's short story “The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether,” filmmaker Brad Anderson's Stonehearst Asylum is unfortunately a heavy-handed, forgettable melodrama, although it does serve as a horrific reminder of how far mental health treatment has progressed. Optional. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include a making-of featurette (6 min.) and trailers. Bottom line: a small extras package for a disappointing period drama.] (S. Granger)