Based upon the diaries of Géza Csáth, a famed Hungarian neurologist, Dr. József Brenner (Csáth’s real name), is a morphine-addicted psychoanalyst and author on a dry spell who transfers to a grim mental institution for women. The year is 1913, and the methods in use by the institution’s director are barbaric.

Brenner is inspired by Gizella, who believes herself to be possessed by an evil spirit. Finding in her the impetus to escape from his writer’s block, a shocking relationship develops between Brenner and his hypergraphic patient. Grade: B+