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nTitle: Altered States (1980)
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nDirector: Ken Russell
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nCast: William Hurt, Blair Brown, Bob Balaban, Drew Barrymore
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nI wish Paddy Chayevsky had written more films; sadly he diednshortly after Altered States was released. I enjoy his writing because there’snalways this depth in themes that I don’t get from many screenwriters innHollywood. His screenplays spoke of intelligent, relevant themes. By way of annexample, he wrote Network (1976), which I still consider to be one of the most controversialnanti-system films around, very subversive, very critical of society. Now younpair Chayevsky’s writing with an equally good director like Sidney Lumet andnthe result is nothing short of brilliant, Network is a film I love, it’s like anthunderbolt of truth, highly recommend checking it out. Altered States is alsona good example of the kind of writing Chayefsky was good at, brainy stuff withnintelligent characters searching for the ultimate truths about God and thenorigin of man. Can’t get any deeper than that! So how did Chayefsky’s writingnpair with a surrealist director like Ken Russell?
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nIn Altered States we meet Eddie Jessup, a scientistnexperimenting with isolation tanks, hallucinatory drugs and an attempt tonregress to a more primal state of existence, namely, Eddie Jessup wants tonconnect with his inner caveman! You see Eddie thinks that hidden within our DNAnare the past experiences of our ancestors and that we could reconnect withnthose ancestors somehow. This idea is not all together alien to me becausenFrank Herbert played with similar themes in his Dune novels; the idea that wenall have somehow, the lives of our ancestors hidden within us, in our minds, innour DNA and that we could, if we wanted to, reconnect with that collectivenknowledge and experience. Of course it’s all trippy as hell and many would callnit hippy mumbo jumbo, but in my opinion it makes an interesting premise for ansci-fi film, and in the case of Altered States one that explores some veryninteresting themes.
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nLike for example, where did we really come from? Who was thenfirst human being? Who is God? Should we even ponder such questions? Thencharacter of Eddie Jessup is a very intelligent one, he is always questioningneverything and he’s never afraid of exploring his psychological boundaries.nBrainy people tend to wonder with their curiosity into mental territories thatnmost would find terrifying and this is the type of theme that Altered States explores.nAt the center of the film is the kind of character that likes to poke around existentialnmatters, so existential, so in depth that others around him can’t take it. Similarncharacters have appeared in films like Darren Aronofsky’s Pi (1998), a film centerednaround a mathematician looking to decipher the mysteries of the universenthrough math equations; ultimately that films message is don’t break your headntrying to find answers to questions that have no answers. It might just drivenyou mad. I think Altered States is this kind of film, it’s main character,nEddie Jessup is always pondering the edges of human knowledge, he dives deepninto the pool of the unknown. When he comes back from these depths, is he thensame guy? Or is he changed somehow?
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nThe film was based on a novel written by Paddy Chayevsky; heneven wrote the screenplay himself, which is a good thing in my book. Evennthough according to director Ken Russell the dialog on the film is almost wordnfor word Chayevsky’s novel and screenplay, Chayevsky was never happy with thenresulting film. He thought it was too loud; he didn’t like the overall tone ofnthe film, which is at times overtly dramatic, especially when it comes tonWilliam Hurt’s performance as Eddie Jessup, which some might consider a bitnover the top, I personally enjoyed it. I mean here’s a guy trying to face godnin his experiments! It is my humble opinion that Ken Russell was actually thenperfect director for such a surreal and introspective film because his films arenalways filled with religious iconography, proof of this are films like Gothic (1986)nand Lair of the White Worm (1988); two very surreal and nightmarish films. Sincenthe main character in Altered States always ends up thinking about god and thenorigins of man, Russell exploited this angle of the story and used it to infusenAltered States with his trade mark religious imagery, which translates to lotsnof crosses, goats, bibles, crucifixions, images of hell, snakes, the wholenshebang. So be ready for an onslaught of surreal biblical nightmares. Visually speaking, the film is a complete delight, so many awesome images and colors. By the way, this was also one of the first films to deal with computer generated imagery. But my point is Ken Russell goes all out with some truly special dream sequences, they are one fo the many highlights of the film.
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nIt’s this awesome mixture of intelligence and art that makesnAltered States worth revisiting. Chayevsky commented that while many sawnAltered States as him going into more surreal territory, he always thought ofnthe book as a love story, because it’s about this guy who goes after confrontingnall the darkness and the nothingness, what brings him back is love. Love oncenagain, is what keeps us sane.
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nRating: 5 out of 5
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