What's In Kay's Mind?: Were these really made in 1972?
Is it a case of dissociation or possession and is Barbara sentient?
…at first you fall for Barbara as a victim of some hateful decisions not made in her best interest, why she is in the asylum. As the plot thickens she leaves the hospital only to find herself being mothered by a nurse appointed guard by her brother who doesn’t really believe she is well. Lucy enters the drama after Barbara takes a few pills and things get worse for Barbara. In the end we are deceived by Barbara’s seeming innocence to find her brother lying in his chair where he was having tea with a pair of scissors in his chest.
My reaction in the end was one of anger at Barbara, she appeared to trick us into believing she was sane and we discover she is really a cold blooded murderer. In reality I am angry with the writer and director because they made it appear Lucy was a totally different person (who in the film looks nothing like Barbara, played by Rampling), leading one to think there was a real collusion between two different people. I would have approached this dissociative condition much differently while still keeping the viewer interested. It only appears having the dissociated part portrayed by one who looks nothing like Rampling would give away the end of the story, it totally distorts the story. Of course while you are trying to figure out what really happened the writer is off on the other adventure you are creating in your mind about Barbara and Lucy, which one may have no interest in anyway.
Not a bad film. I have read about dissociation from various sources including Marlene Steinberg’s clinical analysis of the disorder.
