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09/22/07
Asylum (2005)
36
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:85
Fresh:31
Rotten:54
Average Rating:5.4/10
Consensus: This catastrophic adaptation of Patrick McGrath's novel gets sillier and more implausible as it goes along.
Runtime: 1 hr 39 mins
Genre: Thriller
Synopsis: Set in 1950s England, ASYLUM, a tale of erotic obsession, tells the story of Stella Raphael (Natasha Richardson), a restless, beautiful woman who desperately desires to find in romantic love the... [More]
Starring: Natasha Richardson, Ian McKellen, Marton Csokas, Hugh Bonneville
Director: David Mackenzie
Reviews for Asylum
Top CriticClick to read the article
02/09/06
Top CriticMarton Csokas ... comes across as a hybrid of Russell Crowe and Clive Owen in full-on brooding mode and has a genuine chemistry with Richardson that goes some way to explaining why she stays with him as a long as she does.
09/10/05
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09/09/05
Top CriticFor a story about infatuation, sex and violence, the film is almost strikingly dull.
08/20/05
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09/22/07
Top Criticoffers a bleak vision of the Fifties, where an outbreak of passion or an artistic impulse would be quickly subjected, like any other madness, to containment.
07/02/07
A little like Jack the Ripper in outer space.
03/26/07
Despite a superb cast, artful set design and seductive cinematography, Asylum remains a lovingly lensed missed opportunity.
02/22/07
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05/12/06
Asylum had promise. But it's bad enough to make one wonder just who had the loose screws -- the characters, or the people who filmed them?
09/16/05
Patrick McGrath's screenplay, based on his novel, has moments big and small, delivered in appropriate dollops of awfulness.
09/16/05
It's a movie you fall for or you don't, and like Stella, I am not ashamed I did.
09/16/05
There is nothing to Stella's character -- or any of these characters, for that matter -- that you can relate to.
09/15/05
So obsessed with rendering Patrick McGrath's exquisitely twisted Gothic novel as a refined affair that it forgets less ambitious pursuits, like sussing out a way to keep us awake.
09/15/05
Based on Pat McCabe's moody novel, Asylum has an over-the-top feverishness that suits its premise.
09/15/05
Once characters' actions lose credibility, it's hard to empathize with them, no matter how well the roles are played.
09/15/05
...oh, look at all the crazy people.
09/15/05
The film wryly wonders whether the lunatics have taken over not just the asylum but the entire world as well.
09/04/05
A troubling psychological drama about illicit passion leading to tragedy.
09/03/05
Latest News for Asylum
August 27, 2007:
RT talks to Hallam Foe helmer David Mackenzie
The Brit director introduces us to his "teen gothic fairytale." More...
August 26, 2007:
RT-UK's What to Watch at the Edinburgh Film Festival
Rotten Tomatoes UK heads up north to take in the sights and sounds of the Edinburgh Film Festival. And as the celebration of cinema draws to a close we present what's hot and... More...
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