A CURE FOR WELLNESS (2017) MOVIE NEWS & REVIEW

a cure for wellness (2017) movie

Genre              |  Fantasy Thriller

Classification   |   MA 15+

Running time   |   146 minutes

Released         |   16 March 2017

cast

Dane DeHaan ... Lockhart
​Jason Isaacs ... Volmer
Mia Goth ... Hannah
Ivo Nandi ... Enrico
Adrian Schiller ... Deputy Director
​Celia Imrie ... Victoria Watkins
Harry Groener ... Pembroke

director

​Gore Verbinski

writer

​Justin Haythe ... (screenplay by)
 
Justin Haythe ... (story by) &
Gore Verbinski ... (story by)

cinematographer

​Bojan Bazelli

music

​Benjamin Wallfisch

film editor

​Pete Beaudreau
Lance Pereira

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box office result

Worldwide               $26,559,557

Australia                 $​​​​273,931

North America        $​​​​8,106,986

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the best dialogue

Volmer: Do you know what the cure for the human condition is? Disease. Because that's the only way one could hope for a cure.

Pembroke: [Lockhart reading his letter] To my fellow-members of the Board. A man cannot unsee the truth. He cannot willingly return to darkness, or go blind once he has the gift of sight, any more than he can be unborn. We are the only species capable of self-reflection. The only species with the toxin of self-doubt written into our genetic code. Unequal to our gifts, we build, we buy, we consume. We wrap us in the illusion of material success. We cheat and deceive as we claw our way to the pinnacle of what we define as achievement. Superiority to other men.

Pembroke: [Lockhart now reading the letter sitting at boardroom table] There is a sickness inside us. Rising like the bile that leaves that bitter taste at the back of our throats. It's there in every one of you seated around the table. We deny its existence until one day the body rebels against the mind and screams out, "I am not a well man." No doubt you will think only of the merger. That unclean melding of two equally diseased institutions. But the truth cannot be ignored. For only when we know what ails us can we hope to find the cure. I will not return. Do not attempt to contact me again. Sincerely, Roland E. Pembroke.

A CURE FOR WELLNESS (2017) MOVIE IMAGES

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A CURE FOR WELLNESS (2017) STORY SYNOPSIS

​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. From Gore Verbinski, the visionary director of THE RING, comes the new psychological thriller, A CURE FOR WELLNESS.

A CURE FOR WELLNESS (2017) MOVIE REVIEW

Reviewed by Mark Geraghty   |   Review date 16 March 2017
​Pop Movee Rating ⭐⭐⭐½

A CURE FOR WELLNESS is something of a modest enterprise for Writer-Director Gore Verbinski, who spent the better part of the first decade of the 21st Century traversing the high seas with Johnny Depp’s Jack Sparrow alter-ego in the PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN franchise. Disney, who were clearly impressed by the success of the Pirates movies, gave Verbinski and Depp free reign to bring another pop culture legend - THE LONE RANGER - back to the big screen in 2013, but, somewhere between idea and opening night, the Armie Hammer, Depp vehicle went over the proverbial cliff; creating one almighty financial write-off for Bob Iger and his team at the Mouse House. It’s taken four years for Verbinski to get another feature film released, but, the wait has been worth it, more or less. Viewers who are prepared to forgive Verbinski and screenwriting colleague Justin Haythe some of their indulgences will find A CURE FOR WELLENSS to be an intriguing, if a little beguiling, cinematic endeavour.

To be clear, this film will not be to all tastes. Viewers who have difficulty interpreting symbols and dream imagery may want to give A CURE FOR WELLNESS a wide berth, but, despite, at times, confounding, Verbinksi and Haythe work their way through the film’s 146 minute running time to deliver a story that chooses enlightenment and freedom as the better angels of human existence. This doesn’t mean that the “journey” is a means to an end.

Verbinski reteams with Yugoslavian Cinematographer Bojan Bazelli to deliver some truly startling images. The pair take full advantage of their fictional Swiss “wellness centre”, planting Dane DeHaan’s Lockhardt in the middle of a waking nightmare where the lines between fact and fantastique are blurred not by some supernatural spirit or undead bogeyman, but by the sheer madness that can consume a person when they are left to their own thoughts for too long. Viewers familiar with the movies of Directors like Ken Russell and David Cronenberg will see Verbinski riff on those predecessors in A CURE FOR WELLNESS, although GV tends to focus his attention upon the death and resurrection of the mind, as opposed to the transformation of the flesh.

Besides DeHaan, performances are measured, almost restrained. Jason Isaacs adds another dimension to his range as Heinreich Volmer, the centre’s controlling overseer. Mia Goth plays the ethereal Hannah, whose presence seems at odds with everything else that Lockhardt encounters in his quest to bring Harry Groener’s Roland Pembroke back to New York City in time to save his company from financial ruin.

For devotees of narrative and plot, there are some obvious gaps in the story. Viewers may find themselves wondering “Why don’t the characters ask the same question what the hell is going on?” For example, why, when given the chance, doesn’t Lockhardt abandon his mission as a lost cause. Is it because he fears the retribution that awaits him? Probably not. By this stage of the film, he’s seen too much to be concerned with the price he may have to pay for corporate indiscretion. Is it his love for Hannah? Perhaps, but there is no certainty to her affections, as her sheltered existence is completely at odds with Lockhardt and his belief system. This is the challenge that Verbinski presents his audience. One moment we’re “up the river” with Willard on his mission to get Kurtz, the next we’re confronted by a retro-Prometheus, whose desire to unlock the secrets of “the fire” will doom everyone him and those he loves.

Is A CURE FOR WELLNESS the elixir to a longer life? The short answer is no.. However, for viewers who enjoy a well-performed, beautifully photographed mystery movie, Verbinski's new film is well worth a trip to the cinema well.

A CURE FOR WELLNESS MOVIE (2017) USEFUL LINKS

A Cure for Wellness (2016) - IMDb
A Cure for Wellness - Wikipedia​
A Cure For Wellness (2017) - Rotten Tomatoes​

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