A Cure for Wellness

Dir: Gore Verbinski

2017

****

Justin Haythe’s A cure for wellness is an altogether familiar-feeling thriller brought to life thanks to the brilliance of director Gore Berbinski. There are plenty of problems with the film, its narrative and structure being far from perfect, but personally neither distracted me from really enjoying the visual wonder and the over the top ridiculousness of the whole thing. It plays on many people’s common fears and is a colour-by-number psychological thriller, the sort you’d expect from most such films set in a sanatorium (although technically a rehabilitation centre/spa the building itself was once a sanatorium) but there is still something rather individual about it. The plot itself is a fantastical mix of detective story and horror mystery, a haunted house film but with all the lights on as it were. There aren’t any jump scenes which I found a relief, indeed, there’s not one cheap shot throughout the entire film. That’s not to say that aspects weren’t predictable but I was still glad not to have seen head-shaking monsters, ghostly characters appearing from nowhere or a man with a pig’s head. The locations are the uncredited character of the whole film, Hohenzollern Castle and an abandoned hospital in Beelitz-Heilstatten, Germany being key to the overall look and style of the film. I would suggest that without the bold visuals the film isn’t that remarkable, although the script is strong and I loved how the tone suddenly switched to fantasy towards the end. The story ticks all the usual boxes when it comes to ‘psycological’ thriller and explores madness, claustrophobia, entrapment, aquaphobia, mysophobia (fear of germs), parasitophobia (fear of parasites) and throws in anguillophobia (the fear of eels) for good measure. The bad guys are well spoken and kind and their ‘henchmen’ are a cross between Nazis in disguise and how Scandinavian villains are usually portrayed in James Bond films. It’s a bit sci-fi and a little supernatural. Their motive is refreshingly over-the-top and ridiculous and our protagonist is an odd but intriguing anti-hero who is a cross between Philip Marlowe and Gordon Gekko. I have never been much of a fan of Dane DeHaan but he has gone from strength to strength in recent years and while the films he’s been in haven’t been that successful, he himself has brought nothing but magnificence to his roles. I thought he was perfect in the role and added so much to the story. Jason Isaacs was also on top form as the film’s polite but cunning villain and while the sceptic in me thinks that Mia Goth was cast for her quirky looks, she is also perfect in her role and puts in a very impressive performance. The film does tread water for an awful long time, the plot creeps forward at a rather tiresome pace and at times it feels it really isn’t going anywhere, especially when all conclusions could be guessed correct after the first hour, but I believe the conclusion goes a long way in making up for it. I loved the way the story was left, although different, I almost felt the same way I used to after watching one of Tim Burton’s classics. I don’t think the film takes itself too seriously, and that is one thing I really liked about it. Fans of Lovecraft, which I am, will probably be torn into two ways of thinking, on one side it is nice to see the great man’s ideas brought to life but on the other you could say his ideas have been shamelessly ripped off. However, the fact that one of the characters is seen reading Thomas Mann’s The Magic Mountain, a clear influence on the film’s story, I would suggest it to be in tribute, rather than total plagiarism. If the story, strong script and good performances don’t impress though, you still can’t deny the stunning visuals. I like Verbinski’s films, there is a quirkiness to them that has always appealed to me. It is a shame then that 20th Century Fox pretty much ruined the film before it even came out by releasing what has to be one of the most ill-thought out viral marketing campaign in the history of viral marketing campaigns.