Episode 12: A Cure For Wellness & Repulsion

Cinema in Context

Protagonists struggle with sanity. William Chen, Jeremy Downing and Max Tarrant discuss the films A Cure For Wellness (2016) and Repulsion (1965). The discussion focusses on protagonists that struggle with their sanity or their perception of sanity. The conversation touches on a number of different areas, starting off with a discussion around Roman Polanski’s cinematic work, how his films endure beyond their time and connections to other director’s works, such as David Lynch and Alfred Hitchcock. The discussion then focussed on the strong visual imagery in both films, including cracking walls, a candlestick, a bloody book, a photograph, an eye and eels! The conversation then delves into A Cure For Wellness and how the film goes for broke with its imagery, including the impressive cinematography and visual style. Gender politics and the Bechdel Test is brought up, but challenged by the messy management of topics in Wellness. Connections are made between the two films and Rosemary’s Baby (1968), Housebound (2014), The Shining (1980), The Ring (2002) and Split (2016).