The story of Eugenie, a luminous and passionate young girl at the end of the 19th century. Eugenie has a unique gift: she hears and sees the dead. When her family discovers her secret, she is taken by her father and brother to the neurological clinic at La Pitié Salpêtrière with no possibility of escaping her fate. A clinic, run by the eminent Professor Charcot.... (Full plot summary below)
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The story of Eugenie, a luminous and passionate young girl at the end of the 19th century. Eugenie has a unique gift: she hears and sees the dead. When her family discovers her secret, she is taken by her father and brother to the neurological clinic at La Pitié Salpêtrière with no possibility of escaping her fate. A clinic, run by the eminent Professor Charcot.
Leave your thoughts about The Mad Women's Ball.
| RogerEbert.comSheila O'MalleyThe Mad Women's Ball is part psychodrama and part melodrama, and it wears those mantles proudly and confidently. Each scene throbs with urgency and emotion. Nothing is unimportant. At the same time, the film is highly controlled, with a taut assured script. |
| The PlaylistMarya E. GatesLaurent’s portrait of women pushed to the edge of society, exploited, and tortured for the sake of progress is uncompromising and fearless. |
| The Irish TimesTara BradyThe director and star deftly juggles social commentary, genre tension, spookiness and some fabulous period costumes (courtesy of designer Maïra Ramedhan Levi). |
| The Film StageChristopher SchobertThe Mad Women’s Ball represents a noteworthy achievement for Laurent—a tremendously compelling, emotionally shattering period piece bearing at least three mighty performances from de Laâge, de Dietrich, and herself. |
| The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Sarah-Tai BlackLaurent is determined in mapping the depiction of the patriarchal violence endured under both the supposition of scientific method as well as the social order of the world outside of the institution; however, the film struggles to keep a similar pace and substance within its story world. |
| Film ThreatAlex SavelievThe Mad Women’s Ball avoids caricature or stereotype, though the grounds it walks may seem somewhat familiar. Laurent treads them with skill and passion, immersing us into a period wildly different and dishearteningly similar to ours. |
| The GuardianPeter BradshawContrived and possibly overheated though the film might be at times, there is real storytelling gusto to it, and Laurent punches it across with relish. |
| Screen DailyWendy IdeThe latest picture from Melanie Laurent is a strikingly beautiful production which delves deep into the ugliness at the roots of psychiatric medicine. |
| The A.V. ClubKatie RifeThis is a work of feminist melodrama, one that uses real events as a backdrop for a romantic, woman-centric tale of rebellious spirits and dreams deferred. As such, it might not be the most nuanced portrayal of this particular chapter in history. But it is passionate, fathers and doctors be damned. |
| Entertainment WeeklyLeah GreenblattLaurent, an actress known Stateside for movies like Inglorious Basterds and Beginners, has adapted Ball from the bestselling novel by Victoria Mas, whose facts are rooted in actual history. She shares Mas' justifiable outrage at the casual inhumanity of it all — the brutal experiments and biased theories, the rampant physical and emotional abuse — and also her sense for melodrama. |
