In the first quarter of 2017, the psychological thriller “Medicine for Health” was released on the movie screens. The reviews of viewers and critics who watched this tape were quite controversial. Some called it a masterpiece, others - an unsuccessful attempt to copy the Island of the Damned. Let's learn more about the picture itself, and also consider the most interesting comments and opinions of viewers and critics.
A cure for wellness
Before you consider the reviews of the movie "Cure for Health", it is worth learning about its creation. This picture was shot by the famous director Gor Verbinski, who previously stood at the helm of such cult projects as The Bell, the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy and The Lone Ranger.
In addition to directing, Verbinsky was also a co-author of the script, so all the obscure plot twists are on his conscience.
It is worth noting that the creators of the project did not stint, and instead of snapped-up painted landscapes, they spent the bulk of the shooting in the real German Hohenzollern castle, built in the 15th century.
In order to interest the audience with the upcoming premiere, several fake websites were created on the Internet on which the fictional Swiss resort (appearing in the picture) was presented as a real one. However, such marketing tactics have not justified itself.
It is worth noting that the picture "Medicine for Health" did not pay for the money spent on it and failed miserably at the box office, collecting a little more than 25 million with a budget of 40.
The meaning of the name
As some viewers note in their reviews of the movie “The Cure for Health,” every detail matters here. Therefore, you should pay attention to the name of the project in the original - A Cure for Wellness.
It is clear that the Russian translation - “The Cure for Health” - is just a commercial move (every student remembers that for - it is translated not “from”, but “for”). Let's find out the correct interpretation of the original name.
The English term cure has several ways of interpretation at once: “medicine”, “healing”, “treatment”, “course of treatment”, “remedy”, etc.
The word wellness has a wider range of meanings. This is not only “good health”, but also the concept of a healthy lifestyle in the field of alternative medicine, as well as “well-being” (provision with the necessary material and spiritual benefits). In addition to the above, the term Wellness is the name of a series of dietary supplements, as well as a pet food company.
Based on the above options, the name of the tape can be translated in different ways: "Medicine for health", "Course of treatment for welfare", etc.
main characters
In the center of the plot there are three acting characters. First of all, this is an employee of a Wall Street finance company - Lockhart. The tape does not specify in more detail his profession, the guy is presented only as a generalized image of a poor man from the bottom, seeking to achieve success and prosperity. It is known that his father was the same, but, unable to cope with the problems, committed suicide.
Despite the sad fate of the parent, Lockhart does not draw conclusions from his experience and also devotes his life to the pursuit of wealth and success. He has no friends but colleagues. He does not communicate closely with his mother, handing her over to a cheap almshouse. The hero is indifferent to the life and death of those around him (this is evidenced by the scene when, when he sees a dead fish in an aquarium, Lockhart throws it into the trash without hesitation and regret).
Throughout the story, the hero does not really change. Most of his actions are dictated by the desire to save himself and fulfill the assignment (which will allow the guy to take an important post in the company).
The only moment that can be taken for the epiphany of the hero is an episode where he realizes that in fact his illness is an illusion.
The main antagonist of the picture is the head of the sanatorium - Dr. Heinrich Volmer. Despite the calm nature and ostentatious friendliness, in fact he is a very intelligent and cruel person, capable of committing any crime in order to achieve his goals.
Without a doubt, he is a genius who managed to find the secret of health and immortality, albeit very inhuman. Raising himself above others, Volmer is not capable or unwilling to be aware of obvious things. He is blinded by the desire for wealth at any price. However, for the wise Volmer, it consists not in wealth and power, but in eternal life.
A special patient of the sanatorium named Hannah is a beautiful lady, for whose favor Lockhart and Volmer are “fighting”. Unlike men, this girl is really sick - she has a developmental delay. However, in the course of the action it turns out that perhaps the reason for this lies not in the physiology of Hannah, but in the fact that she, as a captive, is kept in the castle, not allowing to know the world and develop.
Having fallen in love with Lockhart, the girl begins to evolve emotionally. Despite the prohibitions, she gradually begins to understand what is happening around her, and turns into a woman not only at the level of physical development, but also emotional.
The plot of the picture
Almost all the action takes place in an elite Swiss sanatorium built on the site of an old castle. Throughout the whole picture, the main character finds out his story.
Two hundred years ago, a certain baron lived here, obsessed with the idea of purity of blood. He married his sister and dreamed of a purebred child. However, the spouse was barren. To cure her, the aristocrat conducts numerous experiments on the abducted peasants and soon gets his way - the sister becomes pregnant.
Meanwhile, peasants find the hidden bodies of the deceased during the experiments. Angry, they burst into the castle and burn it with the baron. Having seized the spouse, the peasants cut out a child from her womb and throw him into a lake near the castle, and the baroness herself is burned at the stake.
Years pass, and at the beginning of the XX century an elite sanatorium is being built on the site of the castle ruins, where rich people from all over the world come to be treated. Among these patients - the director of the New York company Pembroke. The tape begins with the fact that he informs his colleagues that he does not intend to return to work and wants to stay in the sanatorium forever. However, without Pembroke, companies face serious financial problems. Therefore, the leadership sends a young and ambitious Lockhart to Switzerland to return the fugitive, promising the young man an increase if he is lucky.
Arriving at the sanatorium, the hero was never able to return Pembroke, and he leaves. But on the way out of the castle, his car crashes. Waking up, the guy finds out that he broke his leg. Volmer allows Lockhart to remain in the castle until full recovery.
Despite the mutilation, the young man does not abandon attempts to find Pembroke. But instead, gradually begins to learn the terrible secret of the sanatorium.
It turns out that the baron managed to survive due to the fact that he learned to synthesize the elixir of immortality from the water in the lake at the castle. Now he is hiding under the name of Dr. Volmer. However, for the production of this potion he needs living human bodies. To do this, he lures the elderly rich and, telling them that they are sick, uses them for his experiments.
It also appears that the child carved from the womb survived. This is the strange patient of the sanatorium - Hannah. The girl herself does not know anything about her age and past. She also does not suspect that Volmer wants her to give birth to a purebred child, but all these years he did not touch his daughter, waiting for the onset of puberty.
Lockhart gradually realizes that the plaster on his leg is fake. Trying to achieve justice, the guy only aggravates his situation, and he is sent to the procedure for the production of elixir.
Because of this, the young man's consciousness became confused. However, Hannah manages to reach out to him and gradually Lockhart becomes the same. He manages to save the girl from rape by her father and sets fire to the castle.
In the finale, the hero, along with Hannah, leaves on a bicycle, smiling mysteriously.
The main problems of the tape
Verbinski raises a lot of important problems in his project. Among them is the utopian value system of modern society. In the twentieth century, mankind not only abandoned faith in God, but also from the system of moral principles that have existed for centuries. Thus, the main goal was to achieve an illusory financial well-being.
Another important problem is the blind desire of man to achieve immortality. In an effort to defeat aging and disease, the individual is ready to believe in anything.
Particularly vulnerable in this regard are wealthy people who are used to the fact that you can buy almost anything with money. Believing that somewhere in an unknown country they will be able to find miraculous healing, the rich often become victims of fraudsters, imposing expensive procedures and drugs on them. These medicines may be good, but they are often sold at inflated prices and are imposed on healthy, but suspicious people.
A hint of this problem lies in the name itself, because, as already mentioned above, Wellness is also the name of a complex of dietary supplements widely distributed in domestic spaces by Oriflame consultants. By themselves, such drugs are not a bad thing (like their Russian counterpart, called the Siberian Health drug, reviews of the miraculous properties of which are quite common).
The products of both brands in most cases really consist of effective components. However, they are not a panacea for all diseases. In addition, before deciding to take such drugs, it is important not only to consult with doctors, but also to determine for yourself: are you really sick, or are the symptoms simply contrived.
Health Cure: Criticism
Having considered the plot and the problems of this picture, it is worth moving on to the main issue. So, what reviews did the Cure for Health receive from critics?
TheWrap journalist Alonso Duralde praised the visual design, but criticized the inconsistency of the plot of the picture. Similar impressions from viewing the tape shared in the Los Angeles Times and Justin Chan.
Peter Debryuzh from Variety disappointed the finale of the picture. And LA Weekly journalist April Wolf negatively assessed the rape scene as base and out of style.
Moreover, almost all critics agree that Lovecraftian motifs (the so-called psychological horror of the unknown) are present in the picture.
Paradoxically, the trailer for "Medicine for Health" reviews gathered from critics and viewers much more enthusiastic than the tape itself. In this case, the most impressive, by all accounts, was a scene with a naked Hannah in a bathtub full of eels.
The film "Cure for Health": reviews from viewers
Having learned the opinion of professional movie connoisseurs, it is worthwhile to find out how ordinary viewers perceived the picture.
Despite the failure of the main marketing concept, the studio managed to well advertise the tape and many wanted to see it. Therefore, the film "Cure for Health" has collected numerous reviews and reviews. What are they like?
The iconic American Rotten Tomatoes website features 164 viewer reviews. Unfortunately, most of the authors gave a low rating for the tape. Therefore, the final score is 5.4 out of 10.
Another popular viewer resource, Metacritic, has collected a total of 40 reviews of the “Cure for Health”. According to their results, the tape scored 47 points out of 100 possible.
At KinoPoisk, domestic viewers rated the project even lower than their counterparts from across the ocean. Here the tape gained 43% (this despite the fact that its trailer was rated at 96%).
Soon after the release, the tape began to collect a lot of reviews on the Imkhonet resource. Reviews of the “Medicine for Health” on this site are now impossible to study, since on April 28, 2017 it ceased to exist.
On other, less popular resources, viewers characterize the feed in different ways. In particular, there is a lot of praise for camera work and direction. At the same time, the script itself causes numerous complaints for its superficiality and illogicality.
Acting rating
Considering the audience’s reviews of the “Medicine for Health”, I would like to pay special attention to the evaluation of the acting of the leading actors.
Dane DeKhan, popular today, who performed the main character, earned a lot of praise. Everyone notes that the guy really has talent and he played very well. However, some suggest that Dane is haunted by the laurels of Leonardo DiCaprio, and the artist largely copies his manner of playing in the same "Island of the Damned."
The female lead - British actress and model Mia Goth, has earned less praise. She did a good job of getting used to the role of a mentally retarded girl, but this is more due to the appearance of the actress and the coordinated work of make-up artists and the operator, and not the Mia game. At the same time, individual exposure scenes of this actress were considered unnecessary, as in the episode with an attempted rape.
The play of Jason Isaacs (Volmer) was considered excellent. At the same time, some viewers in their reviews of the “Cure for Health” noted that Isaac was so successful as a villain because this character was firmly entrenched in him for many roles, starting with the Patriot and the Harry Potter series.
Tooth problem or debate over the finale
Considering the numerous descriptions, reviews about the “Cure for Health”, you can see that the final picture is the most controversial. At first glance it seems that the main characters racing on a bike - this is the end. However, some attentive viewers argue with argument that this is not so.
The fact is that, closer to the middle of the plot, the main character loses two front teeth, which is very noticeable in the frame. However, after the scene in which Lockhart is subjected to procedures, he later appears with whole teeth. Moreover, in the finale it lights up everyone with a Hollywood smile. For this reason, many believe that after the procedure the hero remained in a state of suspended animation, and everything that happened (including the happy ending) was only his hallucination.
Some viewers believe that the finale came even earlier - at the time the main character got into an accident. And everything that happens with him is just Lockhart’s dying fantasies based on a story he heard from the driver about the former owner of the castle.
Spectator comparisons with other paintings of a similar genre
In addition to all of the above, reviews of the “Medicine for Health” are full of comparisons of this tape with other paintings of a similar genre.
First of all, the film is compared with the aforementioned Island of the Damned. However, this comparison does not concern the plot itself, but external circumstances.
Volmer Hannah's obsession with some evokes associations with The Phantom of the Opera and The Terrible Dr. Fibes. And the theme of incest has something in common with "Cat People."