Synopsis
A surreal look at the schizophrenia of a group of girls in a therapy session.
The Other Side of the Underneath
1972 Directed by Jane Arden
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***One of the best 150 films I have ever seen.***
[Workprint Version]
Arden, aged 45 by the time of the film's release, beyond being an actress, director and screenwriter, was also a feminist belonging to the anti-psychiatry movement of the 1960s, and this is recognized as her most furious denunciation. The main hypothesis pervading this psychologically and technically groundbreaking unprecedented masterwork is that Psychiatry is a subjective science which methodology depends on the applicant. She had knowledge of at least half a dozen psychiatrists in Great Britain who had different methodologies. Needless to say, results in patients differed. She was no psychiatrist herself; she was, I reiterate, a feminist that cared for human integrity and the role of women in…
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“I’ll show you the life of the mind.”
she’s pretty she’s got a poisonous mind
she’spretty she’s got apoisonous mind she’
spretty she’sgotapoisonousmind she’sprettyshe
‘sgotapoinsonoushe’spreshe’sgotapoisoshepre
shepoishpsphmipois——————(men laughing) (sirens wailing)
Broken, failed
P by a brutal br
a… -
There is no easy way to explain this movie as anyone who will watch this movie will have a entirely different experience with a complete different interpretation. There is a dialogue between the doctor and a man who asks her about how to define schizophrenia and she answers, it depends on each doctor who is treating. Each one will have have a different approach to it and the outcome of it too.
The films make you uncomfortable yet it is fascinating to watch it. You are taken through eyes and minds of these patients. They are disturbing and the depictions of these visions come crawling towards you. There is a fear that reflects through the protagonist. The mirror which she…
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"tell me about your head"
"i don't know very much about my head."an impressive feat of sustained hysteria and claustrophobia and formal experimentation meant to turn institutional psychiatry into this surreal, horrifying funhouse of memories and fantasies. a tough film about mental anguish the pursuit of some sort feeling of freedom that at times reminded me of my experience watching wiseman's Titicut Follies and maya deren shorts.
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There's a short reference to the Roma/tinker communities of Wales in the credits, verifying that the scenes outside the hospital were filmed with them. Having their role in this be part of a vision of madness seems a little... problematic, but I don't know enough about their involvement to say more than that. Nor can I say what Jane Arden's relationship to schizophrenia might be.
But.
How accurately it depicts mental illness, at least in terms of the immense pressure, stress, turmoil that it can afflict you with at its most intense moments, isn't far off. If not schizophrenia, then certainly this matches the inner boil of trauma, anxiety, and depression horrifyingly well. The repetition, the chaos, the recursive references…
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Well, this was unsettling to say the least. What happens inside the brain will always be scarier to me than any other horror but I'm so confused with this one. Apparently everyone was under the influence of lsd or alcohol while making it, which makes sense and maybe I had to be in that state too to fully understand it. But if you ever feel like watching something insane, watch this one because it's insane.
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What's it feel like to be so overwhelmed by the outside world, and you can't cope up with the way it moves? It isn't an easy feeling to describe, and that's what Jane Arden somehow managed to beautifully capture in The Other Side of the Underneath. Because there's no real answer to describe why these people are exactly the way they are, the peculiarity of an experience much like The Other Side of the Underneath soon finds itself able to stand out. Being the only British feature from the 1970's to be solely directed by a female, perhaps there's another layer to the madness that The Other Side of the Underneath is depicting, since there's really no other way to…
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staring down the barrel
of a long-lost memory
is that you? or a pantomime?
come here little clown face
it's time to meet your meeker you
smaller and smaller, new needles
pointing backwards, forwards, inwards
pricking, prickly
am i falling
^^^^^
||||||||
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partly apart or in parts
definitely maybe
into this abysmal self contraction
to a place called me
scratching, clawing, let me in
where am i
is it really me
or am i already gone
lost among the thoughts of many
s c hi z oph r enia -
March Madness 2023
I’m not sure if I am having issues giving films a star rating lately, or if the films I’ve been watching are just beyond slapping upon an arbitrary star rating.
It’s back to Severin’s House of Psychotic Women box set for my next entry into madness: The Other Side of the Underneath, an LSD infused experimental art piece from director Jane Arden. The film could also double for Women’s History month as it is the only British film solely directed by a woman in the 70s.
There is really no plot here to try to dissect. It’s more about the imagery and sound design here. And you are either going to be willing to accept allowing the film…
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An art-film, I guess... I stopped watching after 35 minutes. This isn’t for me. No rating, no review. I just could not take two hour of this. Lot of people seem to love this one but it just bored me and gave me a headache. Some cool imagery here for sure but yeah… it’s not for me.
