The Snake Pitt - Drama
Director: Anatole Litvak
Year: 1948
Country: USA
Duration: 108 mins
Rating: 12
Cast: Olivia de Havilland, Mark Stevens and Leo Genn
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Virginia, a recently married writer, is hospitalized for a nervous breakdown. Unable to perceive what is going on, for a long time she is not even sure where she is. The film follows her progress through the various wards and her psychotherapy sessions with an understanding doctor. In flashbacks she returns to her childhood and explores incidents which might have caused her breakdown. Over time she gains insight and self-understanding, and is able to leave the hospital. The film also depicts the bureaucratic regimentation of the institution, the staff — some brutal and ignorant, some kindhearted — and relationships between patients, from which Virginia learns as much as she does in therapy.