Lilith (1964)
Director: Robert Rossen
Starring: Warren Beatty, Jean Seberg, Peter Fonda
Synopsis:
A veteran finds work as an orderly at a sanitarium, where he becomes the object of a patient's affections.
Impressions:
When you start seeing the signs of crazy in a relationship, that should be your cue to enact your exit strategy. If you're working at a mental institution, beyond the ethical issue, entering into a relationship with a patient is a terrible idea because the crazy is already established. To give Warren Beatty's character all due credit, he does resist for quite a while. It's interesting to see him in an early role like this. The same goes for Peter Fonda, who plays a nerdy sort quite unlike what you'd normally expect from him. Jean Seberg is quite good as the eponymous temptress, a high-functioning mental patient whose pathologies tend to seep through rather subtly. The movie doesn't play with mental illness for cheap thrills and it's one of the more balanced and even-handed portrayals I've seen. It's an interesting character study and I'd say it's worth giving a watch.
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