I was planning to see A Cure For Wellness in the theater, but it wasn't near the top of my list and didn't last very long at the theater. Taking advantage of a free weekend of Cinemax, I had the opportunity to watch the film today. My first reaction was "what did I just watch?" It is a suspense/thriller intended to keep audiences guessing about the sanity of the lead character, Lockhart (Dane DeHaan). The plot ineffectively attempted to build a mystery surrounding a forgettable protagonist.
Lockhart has ambitions. When an SEC investigation threatens his financial services company, his own misdeeds are used to compel him to help retrieve the corporate CEO from a wellness center in the Swiss Alps. Lockhart arrives at the remote mountaintop spa with the intent of getting in and getting out. Getting in is easy. Getting out, not so much. The spa is run by a sadistic doctor, Volmer (Jason Isaacs). Several attempts to "escape" the spa fail. Lockhart soon realizes that he is a patient. His treatment forces him to confront his own disturbing childhood, watching his father jump from a bridge following a major drop in the stock market. Lockhart interacts with several other patients as he attempts to unravel the secrets that seem just beyond his grasp. As he struggles to come to terms with is predicament, he befriends a young woman, Hannah (Mia Goth), who seems different from the other patients. Lockhart's options are limited. And maybe life at the spa really isn't that bad after all.
A Cure For Wellness is bizarre. It is a graphically visual story that seems to wander aimlessly at times. The film is choppy with uneven pacing. Some of that choppiness seems intent on keeping viewers off balance. It is a weird counterpoint to the oddly sterile environment within the spa. The treatments themselves are graphic, while most patients seem to be amenable. In a detached sort of way. The story relies heavily on the helplessness of the situation to build suspense. It creates a room without doors to make the viewer feel trapped along with the patients. In effect, making us the patients as well. The film builds toward a climax that was as bizarre as the buildup. Yet I felt more like the other patients most of the time. Detached. Mildly amenable, but detached. Lockhart just never engaged me. I felt a bit of tension at times, but I think it was more the graphic nature of the film than the suspense.
Dane Dehaan has been getting plenty of work in recent years. I enjoyed his performance in the film A Place Beyond the Pines. I was less impressed with the young actor in this film. His character failed to connect. His attempts to be gritty came across as effete to me. He seemed tepid and inexperienced. Mia Goth had a bizarre role, which was a bit more interesting to me. She wasn't required to carry the film the way Dehaan was. Isaacs was an effective antagonist, delivering a creepy, yet flat performance. The bizarre nature of the other characters (patients and townfolk alike) made them seem one-dimensional as well. It was meant to keep viewers off balance. But it came across as distance. This film never connected enough to fully draw me in.
A Cure For Wellness felt a bit long at 146 minutes. That is nearly two and a half hours. Normally a film would lose me at that length, particularly with the uneven pacing that this film has. However, it did not feel that long, which is definitely a plus. The film received an R Rating from the MPAA for numerous reasons. This is a solid R Rating if there ever was one. There is graphic nudity to include "full frontal." There is an attempted rape scene. There is graphic, bloody violence. The violence was painful to watch at times. Visually impactful. The film also has language elements. Both the violence and nudity, on their own, would have been sufficient to earn the R rating. I would recommend a teen audience at least for this film. It is the type of film that could induce nightmares.
I like films that have strong visuals. A Cure For Wellness fits the bill for that type of storytelling. Unfortunately, the story was so outlandish that the visual aspects were lost in the storytelling. The performances were okay, although I never bought off on DeHaan's character. I was disappointed in the end product. It was an interesting film to watch, but the story was unrewarding. I didn't pay to see this film, so that is a bonus. This film is okay if you are streaming it free, as I did on Cinemax. 6/10.
