Stonehearst Asylum: film based on a story by EA Poe

Stonehearst Asylum —also known as Eliza Graves— is a 2014 horror film based on the classic tale by Edgar Allan Poe: The system of Dr. Tarr and Professor Fether (The System of Dr. Tarr and Prof. Fether), published in the November 1845 issue of Graham’s Lady’s and Gentleman’s Magazine.

The film recounts the growing obsession of a psychiatrist with a mysterious patient: Eliza Graveswhose severe mental disorders prevent him, among other things, from maintaining physical contact with others.

Stonehearst Asylum makes an interesting approach to madness and how it was treated brutally by 19th century medicine, still impregnated by extravagant ideas that conditioned the patient to an unusual succession of tortures, for example, in the treatment of hysteria and melancholy.

After the trailer Stonehearst Asylum We continue with the analysis of the story of EA Poe.

Stonerhearst Asylum —Eliza Graves— (trailer)

Stonehearst Asylum It is inspired by the classic story of EA Poe: The system of Dr. Tarr and Professor Fether (The System of Dr. Tarr and Prof. Fether), although with several discrepancies with the original.

For example, the story of EA Poe It places us in France, where two young travelers visit an old private asylum. One of them, phobic and afraid of interacting with lunatics, leaves immediately, while his partner decides to tour the facilities guided by the director, Monsieur Maillard.

The first thing that arouses the traveler’s curiosity is the surprising behavior of doctors and lunatics; In fact, there the crazy people seem sane and the doctors brutally crazy.

All the patients in the asylum appear affable and perfectly reasonable. However, the sane, that is, the doctors, begin to behave like real animals that terrorize those who in principle were supposed to cure their madness.

In this context, EA Poe He plays with the ridiculous accusations he received throughout his career, whose psychiatric history, certainly apocryphal, allowed him to explore his own vision of madness and sanity.

Coldly analyzed, The system of dr. Tarr and Professor Fether satirizes madness, turns it into a simple cognitive madness, something strange considering that EA Poe he dangerously courted alienation throughout his life.

The title of the story offers a clue to that strange treatment that takes place in the asylum, known as the “system of soothing.” Dr. Tarr (Tar, in English) and Professor Fether (Pen) waver in their convictions and carry out a revolutionary and chilling method of treating madness, whose foundations can only have been engendered in the most absolute alienation.

The system of Dr. Tarr and Professor Fether.

The System of Dr. Tarr and Prof. Fether, E. A. Poe (1809-1849)

In the autumn of 18…, while traveling through the southern provinces of France, my path led me within a few miles of a certain Maison de Santé, or private asylum, of which I had heard much told from my medical friends in Paris. Since I had never visited an establishment of that kind, it seemed to me that I should not miss such an excellent opportunity, and I proposed to my traveling companion (a gentleman with whom I had casually met a few days before) that we deviate from the route for one or two hours, in order to visit the hospice. My friend objected, arguing first of being in a hurry, and then of understandable horror at the sight of a lunatic. He begged me, however, that courtesy not prevent the satisfaction of my curiosity, adding that he would ride slowly in order to give me the opportunity to catch up with him that same day or, at the latest, the next.

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When we were saying goodbye, it occurred to me that there might be some difficulty in my admission to the establishment, and I told my friend so. He replied that, unless I personally knew the director, Monsieur Maillard, or presented him with some written credentials, it would be difficult for them to let me through, since the regulations of these private asylums were much more rigid than those of public hospitals. But as he had met Maillard years before, he would have the pleasure of accompanying me to the door and introducing me, although his feelings regarding his madness would not allow him to enter the house.

I thanked him and, after leaving the main road, we took a grassy path that, half an hour later, led us to a dense forest located at the foot of a mountain. We rode almost two miles through that humid and gloomy forest, until we saw the Maison de Santé. It was a fantastic castle, very dilapidated, which, judging by its age and the neglect in which it was found, must have been barely habitable. His appearance filled me with terror and, restraining my horse, I was on the point of turning away. But I soon became ashamed of my weakness and we moved on.

As we approached the large door I noticed that it was ajar and that someone was spying through it. A moment later a man appeared and addressed my companion, calling him by his name and cordially shaking his hand, while he urged him to dismount. It was Monsieur Maillard himself. He was a robust and handsome gentleman of the old school, with very fine manners and a certain air of gravity, dignity and authority that was extremely impressive.

After introducing myself, my friend informed Monsieur Maillard of my desire to visit the establishment, and, upon receiving the latter’s assurance that I would be well cared for, he took his leave and was soon out of sight.

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The director then led me to a small, well-appointed reception room, which, among other signs of refined taste, contained various books, drawings, vases of flowers, and musical instruments. A cheerful fire burned in the hearth. Sitting at the piano and singing an aria by Bellini was a young and beautiful woman who, upon seeing me enter, paused in her song and received me with gracious courtesy. She spoke in a low voice and all her attitudes were dull. She also seemed to notice traces of pain on her face, of an excessive paleness although not unpleasant to my taste. She was dressed in rigorous mourning and provoked in me a feeling where respect, interest and admiration were mixed.

He had heard it said in Paris that Monsieur Maillard’s institution was governed by what was vulgarly called the “system of sweetness”; that punishments were abolished, that confinement was dispensed with in almost all cases, and that the patients, although secretly watched, enjoyed great apparent freedom, being allowed to walk around the house and gardens with all the rights of people in their own right. sane.

Taking these reports into account, I was careful about what I said in the presence of the young woman, since I was not sure that she was sane; There was a certain restless shine in her eyes that led me to suspect that she was not. I therefore limited my observations to general topics, choosing those least likely to displease or excite a crazy woman. She answered everything I told her in the most sensible way, and even her personal observations showed the most obvious sign of common sense. However, a long familiarity with the foundations of madness had taught me not to trust any appearance of sanity, and throughout the entire conversation I continued to act with the same initial precautions.

Shortly after, a handsome domestic in livery appeared, bringing a tray with fruits, wine and other refreshments, which I shared with the director and the lady, who shortly left the room. As soon as he had left I looked at my guest with an air of questioning.

“No, no,” he replied. It’s part of my family. She is my niece, and certainly a very remarkable woman.

“I apologize for my suspicion,” I said, “but I know very well that you will know how to excuse me.” The excellent management of this house is well known in Paris, and I thought that, after all, it might well happen that…

—Yes, of course. Don’t say more. It is I who must thank her for the laudable prudence she has shown. Such foresight is rarely seen in young people, and more than once sad setbacks have occurred due to the bewilderment of our visitors. When my old system was in place and my patients were allowed to wander about freely, they were often thrown into frantic fits by the reckless visitors. That is why I have been forced to establish a rigid system of exclusion, and I do not allow entry to anyone whose discretion I cannot trust.

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—When their old system was in effect! —I exclaimed, repeating his words—. Am I to understand, then, that the “sweetness system” I have heard so much about no longer applies?

“It has been several weeks now,” he replied, “that we have given up on him completely.

-Really? You amaze me!

“My dear sir,” he said, sighing, “we became convinced of the absolute necessity of returning to the old methods.” The danger of the sweetness system was truly frightful, while its advantages have been greatly exaggerated by opinion. I understand that in this house the experiment has been carried out in the most loyal way. We did everything that was humanly and rationally possible. I regret that you have not visited us at another time, because then you could judge for yourself. I assume, however, that you are aware of the sweetness system… in all its details.

—No, certainly. I’ve only heard news third or fourth hand.

—I can tell you then that, in general terms, the system consists of the patient being a ménagé, that his whims are tolerated. We never opposed the fantasies that assaulted the minds of crazy people. On the contrary, we not only allowed them, but encouraged them, and many of our definitive cures were achieved in that way. No argument impresses the weak reason of the insane as much as the reductio ad absurdum. For example, there were sick people here who thought they were chickens. In these cases the treatment consisted of accepting the thing as a fact, accusing the patient of stupidity for not sufficiently admitting that it was a fact, and, consequently, depriving him for a week of all food that did not consist of his own food. of the chickens. In this way, a few handfuls of grain and gravel were enough to work wonders.

—But was the system reduced to this kind of acceptance?

-In any way. We put great faith in simple amusements, such as music, dancing, gymnastic exercises, card games, certain kinds of books, and the like. We intended to treat each patient as if he were only suffering from an ordinary physical disorder, and the word “insanity” was never used. A detail of great importance was that each madman had the mission of monitoring the actions of all the others. Placing trust in the understanding or discretion of an insane person is equivalent to winning him over, body and soul. In this way we avoided the expense of a large body of…