A CURE FOR WELLNESS

US/ Germany, 2017, 146 minutes, Colour.
Dane De Haan, Jason Isaacs, Mia Goth, Celia Imrie, Harry Groener.
Directed by Gore Verbinski.

An arrestingly ironic title. We do not know what to expect – and on hearing that the film runs for almost 2 ½ hours, there may be a great deal to expect. And, on hearing again, that the director is Gore Verbinski, whom we associate with the Pirates of the Caribbean, we have to be prepared for anything.

At the beginning, the film seems to be a drama about Wall Street and shady financial difficulties, a focus on the young executive, Lockhart (Dane De Haan), sitting on the train, phone and computer, urging a colleague to be ruthless. He is then invited upstairs to the board room of the company, praised, alerted that there are some shady aspects of his deals, needing signatures to avoid investigations by authorities, and commissioning him to go to Switzerland to find an executive who has gone to an institute for his health and to bring him back for document signing.

The audience does not get back to the United States, the rest of the film all taking place in Switzerland, Lockhart travelling from the station to an elaborate mansion which houses the health Institute, confident that he can get the executive very quickly and travel back to New York. Big mistake, of course. Lockhart is certainly interested in looking at all the patients or clients, all dressed in white, playing croquet or doing exercises on the lawn, all older, chatting with some of them, hearing some of the history of the building. He signs in at reception but is told he will have to wait – and the executive declaring that he does not want to leave.

Lockhart is injured in a car accident, a crash into a deer, and finds himself in bed in a ward, his broken leg in plaster, being reassured by the staff, especially the smiling doctor, Volmer, who is in charge of the Institute. But, Lockhart is ever curious and spends a great deal of the film wandering around the Institute, wondering about the young girl, Hannah, who stands on the parapet (eventually persuading her to take him down to the town on her bicycle after stealing some documents about the executive and trying to verify what was happening).

So, the film becomes more and more sinister, Lockhart wandering the corridors, going into the spas, having a water treatment that almost kills him, continually reassured by the doctor, talking with an English lady, Mrs Watkins (Celia Imrie) who fills him in about the background of the Institute 200 years earlier, the peasants burning the building, the Baron being killed, his incestuous relationship with his sister who may or may not have been pregnant or barren…

By this stage, with a mixture of sunlight on the lawns and the cheery patients and very dark sequences in the corridors, in the cells, in the underground pool, the film takes on something of Gothic horror.

Ultimately, all is revealed, and Jason Isaacs as the head of the Institute, seemingly pleasantl, doing a variation on what might have been a role for Christopher Lee, has to confront Lockhart with the revelation about who Hannah really is.

Just when you think all is well and the situation resolved, Lockhart and Hannah are on their bike, going down the mountain and crash into a car containing the board members from New York who have come to sort everything out. What else to do but continue bicycling down the mountainside to…

1. The title, expectations? Ironies?

2. The New York story, Wall Street, business offices, financial dealings, Lockhart in the train, the deals over the phone, urging his partner to courage? Invited upstairs? The board meeting, the members, the congratulations, yet the investigation, the letter from Pembroke, his mission to Switzerland, getting Pembroke back, to sign the documents? The New York story as a framework?

3. The visit to Switzerland, the images of the train, the tunnel, the splitting? The taxi ride, the drive up from the station, to the mansion, talking to the taxi driver, indications of our knees? The look of the mansion, the sunny day, the Gothic appearance of the mansion itself?

4. Lockhart, his age, young, experience, self-confidence? Yet the vague memories of his father, in the taxi, on the bridge, his father standing on the edge, throwing himself over? Lockhart remembering this? But having suppressed memories? Pembroke and his praise of Lockhart’s father? The memories being used for Lockhart’s therapy?

5. Lockhart, arriving at reception, the reaction of the nurse, his signing the document, the variety of people on the lawn, dressed in white, the various games and exercises? Meals? Conversations with the inmates? The meeting with Mrs Watkins? The meeting with the doctor and his assistant, their reassurance?

6. The car accident, the death of the deer? The doctor saying he could not kill innocent animals? Lockhart and his broken leg, in bed, the reassurance of the phone call to New York? His becoming a patient?

7. The impact of the staff, the doctor presiding, genial, his smile – yet intimations of the sinister? Presiding at meals in the dining room? Always helpful? Rescuing Lockhart after his going to the in and the fight? Lockhart lost in the building, the doctor and his continued explanations? His relationship with Hannah and her photo on his desk, his explanations about her?

8. The stories about the mansion, 200 years earlier, the building being burnt, the role of the Baron and his sister, suggestions of incest, the reaction of the peasants? The variations on the story, the sister being barren, the sister being pregnant, the burning of the child being rescued from the fire? The photos of 1912? The girl and the portrait? The masked man?

9. Lockhart and his experience, inexperience, seeing Hannah on the parapet, talking with her, the mystery of her presence, persuading her for the bike ride, his stealing the documents, going to the man in the village, the information, Hannah and the jukebox, the dance, the tough types, the man in the bar, the taxi driver? The doctor and the rescue?

10. The range of activities, treatments, the spires, Lockhart and his exploration, pretending to be Pembroke? Finding the bodies in suspension?

11. The talk with Pembroke, in the spa, Pembroke not wanting to return? His reappearance at the end and his reassurance that he wanted to stay?

12. The staff, the various nurses, at reception, the doctor assistant and the touch of the sinister? The men on the wards? Pursuits and violence? The importance of water and everybody drinking the water? The background explanation of the aquifer?

13. Mrs Watkins, love for history, her various treatments? The explanation about the tower, Lockhart seeing the grille and its being cemented up? The bodies taken there? Her interest in the history, her becoming a victim?

14. The treatment, Lockhart in the water, his imagination, the giant leeches? His body in the compressor, the guard and the sexual encounter, ignoring the crisis, Lockhart being saved? His dreams, nightmares, the toilet – and the presence of the leeches?

15. His suspicions, finding his leg was not broken, exploring, hiding, his discoveries?

16. Hannah, going into the water, having her period, the doctor and his change of attitude, the consummation sexually, the celebration of the wedding, Hannah unwilling, the
doctor and his approach, Lockhart and the confrontation? The doctor removing his mask, the truth about his age, Hannah as his daughter? The explanation of the bodies being kept, the peasants in the past, the patients at the Institute, the elixir of life dripping from them, the extract being used for Hannah, for himself, Lockhart and the taste?

17. Hannah, the truth, killing her father?

18. The wedding ceremony, the dancing, everybody dressed in white? Lockhart and his setting the fire in the lab, burning the mansion, people escaping?

19. Lockhart and Hannah escaping, almost crashing into the members of the board on the highway, the argument about the financial situation? Lockhart making the choice to go with Hannah?

20. The ingredients of Gothic storytelling, but with an American flavour, German and Swiss flavour? The building and its secrets? The sinister characters and situations?