Directed by:
Gore VerbinskiScreenplay:
Justin HaytheCinematography:
Bojan BazelliComposer:
Benjamin WallfischCast:
Dane DeHaan, Jason Isaacs, Mia Goth, Celia Imrie, Susanne Wuest, Lisa Banes, Adrian Schiller, Judith Hoersch, Johannes Krisch, Jeff Burrell, Godehard Giese (more)VOD (3)
Plots(1)
An ambitious young executive is sent to retrieve his company's CEO from an idyllic but mysterious "wellness center" at a remote location in the Swiss Alps. He soon suspects that the spa's miraculous treatments are not what they seem. When he begins to unravel its terrifying secrets, his sanity is tested, as he finds himself diagnosed with the same curious illness that keeps all the guests here longing for the cure. (20th Century Fox)
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Reviews (9)
It's delightfully filmed weirdness - after Crimson Peak, another horror film that's not very usual for the contemporary viewer (even the genre classification here doesn't know how to deal with it :)), but which perfectly had me in the palm of its hand. First of all, it was able to surprise me with something every now and then, which was probably the best of all. Priessnitz never dreamed of such a hydrotherapy, and I, who was so bored by Shutter Island, probably didn't dream of such a film either.
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This horror movie, A Cure for Wellness uses a carefully constructed atmosphere to get under your skin. However, as the story moves into the second half, it begins to lose a little of its initial charm, shrouded in sinister mystery. Nevertheless, I was not bored at all, on the contrary, the plot absolutely absorbed me. In addition, I was absolutely captivated by the beautiful mountain locations where the filming took place. Personally, however, I would have liked a more sophisticated solution to the mystery. (75%)
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Shutter Island 2 – under the influence. Verbinski is a painter, his artistic eye for long takes and visually arresting stylisation is very satisfying for fans of the form. For the first half at least, he also manages to expertly build tension and a sense of something slightly bizarre beyond reality and completely unpredictable. Unfortunately, the surrealism is a bit too much, and in the hands of unimaginative screenwriters is bound to end up in an out-of-place fiasco. Scorsese also had amazing character psychology and a fantastic twist, which is lacking here.
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Visually, this movie is an absolute and pure delicacy. The story is a little weaker, though. The problem is that the beginning gets off to a great start. I don’t mind its similarity to Shutter Island at all. On the contrary, I am extremely excited about the small Swiss village and the castle above it. It creates an absolutely perfect atmosphere, and finally, somebody wasn’t afraid to portray the Swiss as a bunch of bums you could compare to immigrants coming from the most remote street of Bucharest. It holds the great atmosphere for the full hour and a half, the actors are also trying, and it all approaches the conclusion where it will certainly climax. But here it is quite clear that it will either be very good or very bad. Well, and it became a pure phantasmagoria. However, after watching this, I had about a half-hour-long free slot to think whether it bothered me in the end or not and I finally decided that thanks to the fact that Gore Verbinski wasn’t afraid to do a mysterious thriller it deserved the fourth star. There aren’t many such films even though they are incredibly gripping. And with the visuals he conjured up? I would be dumb to go lower.
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Whoever gave Verbinsky the money he needed to make A Cure for Wellness look so beautiful must be insane. But the insanity doesn’t end there – and will naturally disappoint anyone incapable of leaving behind the expectations of an intelligent and ambitious future genre classic (which is already made clear at least in the first half hour). On the other hand, I think that there hasn’t been anyone in history who has shot so well, and with such budget, a thoroughbred Gothic horror script out of Hammer. The core idea is alright and it’s elaborated with some sophistication, considering the standards of the sub-genre (i.e. silly, but in a cute rather than annoying way). The main problem is unfortunately the length, and here I agree with several of the more critical reviewers. The beginning is excellent, it manages to arouse the curiosity of the viewer, it’s mysterious and disturbing. The climax is also great, the WTF moments come one after another in such way that at times I wasn’t sure that I was seeing what I was seeing. Jason Isaacs plays Christopher Lee in his best years, and wonderfully at that (but who among today’s moviegoers will appreciate it?). Unfortunately, for more than one hour in the middle, Verbinsky stretches things too much and the film wouldn’t be hurt by a significant cut in its run. If everything between the first and last half hours was condensed to about half the time, it would be perfect, because I am really happy that something like this exists.
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Gallery (60)
Photo © 20th Century Fox
![A Cure for Wellness - Photos](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w663/files/images/film/photos/161/460/161460819_dc71fd.jpg)
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