(David Cronenberg, Canada 1979, 92 min., DCP)
Something’s gone terribly wrong at the Somafree Institute of Psychoplasmics, where, through intense psychological role-playing Dr. Hal Raglan (Oliver Reed) has been encouraging troubled clients to manifest their repressed emotions and desires as fleshy, distinctly Cronenbergian excrescences that soon appear on their skin. The case of prized patient Nola (Samantha Eggar), a troubled woman with monstrous mommy issues, however, has become particularly worrying: It appears Nola’s deep-seated rage has begun taking on unexpected — and homicidal — forms. Cronenberg, who had recently undergone a bruising divorce and custody battle, claimed that his shocking third feature was a more realistic Kramer vs. Kramer, a statement that didn’t help deflect criticism that his own film was similarly misogynistic. Other critics have taken a different stance, arguing that the film should be read as a cunning condemnation of the often-sexist psychotherapy narratives popular at the time of the film’s release—an anti–Ordinary People of sorts. Either way, this is one of Cronenberg’s most frightening and controversial works.
Upcoming Events in this Series
Film Screenings | Crimson Peak (35mm)
Summer Chills Director Guillermo Del Toro returns to his gothic roots with this tale of hauntings, both of the spectral nature and that of family history.
Film Screenings | Eyes Wide Shut (35mm)
The Complete Kubrick | Summer Chills Stanley Kubrick’s final directorial effort was released twelve years after his previous film and four months after his death. Inspired by Arthur Schnitzler’s 1926 Traumnovelle (or Dream Story), Kubrick waited until he had a real-life couple that could commit to his demanding production schedule to make the film.
Film Screenings | The Blackcoat’s Daughter
Summer Chills Director Oz Perkins has made a splash in the last few years with Longlegs and The Monkey. This film, his feature debut, is a chilling exploration of loneliness and isolation. In the cold winter of upstate New York, two girls (Kiernan Shipka and Lucy Boynton) at Catholic boarding school Bramford Academy find themselves left behind as their parents fail to retrieve them for winter break.