Equus (1977)

the audience applauded

Fantastic!

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

I knew the theater play but had never heard of this movie adaptation. What a great surprise. Sidney Lumet is such a talented director and proves it again with this very intense movie. Richard Burton is incredible and the relationship between the doctor and the "sick" boy is really captivating and moving. All the oniric scenes are wonderful, filled with beauty ans melancholy. It does the effect of a beautiful nightmare. Is it better to be crazy or to live a life without passion ?

Sidney Lumet's Equus is based on a play by Peter Shaffer, and it certainly feels like it. Normally a film feeling like a play adaptation is a negative thing, but I think it worked a lot here with the style of the people involved. For one, Shaffer adapted the play for the screen himself, which helped in keeping the strength of what made it work together without trying to adjust it too much in order to service it as a film. Secondly, the actors all make it work from Shaffer's adaptation, with Richard Burton being very large and commanding and Peter Firth played his character on stage before doing the film. Mostly though, coming from a play works tremendously when it comes to the style of Sidney Lumet.I used to always say that you can never tell when you're watching a Lumet film, which was a compliment, because he creates something more about the characters and the story as opposed to trying to impress the audience with his technical flare. Well that has never been more true than it is here, presenting a film that focuses so intimately on it's two key characters and never tries to distract the audience from that with impressive visuals or cinematic wonders. Lumet tells the story straight and that's exactly the way it should be. The story itself is quite intriguing, as psychiatrist Martin Dysart (Burton) engages in sessions with young Alan Strang (Firth) to try and uncover the rationale for why Strang blinded six horses with a metal spike.The film does focus on Dysart on a larger scale, with his relationships and personal demons, but it's at it's strongest when dealing with the sessions between him and Strang. These sessions are intimate, intriguing and wildly intense, the two of them pushing for power and understanding, both needing things from the other while trying to hide their own secrets. Both actors shine tremendously, with Burton commanding every moment and Firth diving full strength into his role, completely becoming his character. Strang could have been a character that would have been almost comical, but the way that Firth, Lumet and Shaffer tackle it and the story at large in such an honest and serious tone makes it work so well. There's never a doubt that this boy is genuinely feeling these emotions and with some of the themes they work with, it is very impressive that they are able to make it work in such a serious light all of the way through.Some of the supporting actors get moments to impress as well, with Joan Plowright and Eileen Atkins doing strong work as the women who are impacted by the flaws of these men, along with Colin Blakely who is heartbreaking in his final scene. Still, the film belongs to Burton and Firth and they dominate every second. There are several scenes where Burton speaks directly to the audience, which I didn't particularly care for, but they're useful in that they dig into some strong themes about the life of a psychiatrist and the kind of lasting impact that patients can have on them. Overall it's a very strongly acted piece with impressive work from everyone involved both in front of and behind the camera. It's also pretty innovative for it's use of full-frontal male nudity, which would be controversial even by today's standards, let alone thirty five years ago.

There are many recesses in the mind which begin with a question and extend as far back as the unconscious will allow. Mystery on the other hand begins with a question and usually expects the rational mind to solve it. On a cold night on an English farm, Alan Strang (Peter Firth) a naked youth strokes, plays, rides and makes passionate love to his beloved companion, a beautiful horse. However, instead of a final embrace of love, the youth cries piteously, then blinds him and five other horses. The police are summoned, the youth is arrested, charged, found guilty and then the court must decide what to do with the very troubled boy. The presiding judge decides a mental evaluation is necessary to discover the lad's destructive behavior. Enter Doctor Dysart (Richard Burton) a specialist who begins to identify with the boy's search for understanding, passion and love. While the unfolding mystery begins to illuminate the reason why the boy killed his lover, the doctor also realizes in order to 'cure' him and make him 'Normal' he must eviscerate him into an adult with almost no hope of ever loving anyone without suffering the consequences of reality. A reality which includes his opinionated, inwardly-timid father (Colin Blakely), religious overbearing mother (Joan Plowright) and Jill Mason (Jenny Agutter) with whom he has an affair with in front of his God. The film is a monument of true art and was praised on Broadway and then later in this film. Both Burton and Peter Firth received acclaim, praise and many accolades for their superior performances. The story was written by Peter Shaffer, directed by Sidney Lumet and is considered a Classic on both stage and screen. *****

Stable boy Alan Strang (Peter Firth) has blinded a number of horses and no one can figure out why. Psychiatrist Martin Dysart (Richard Burton) tries to find out why.I've never seen the stage play so I can't compare it to that but, on its own, this is a pretty dull movie. For starters the main character Alan was an incredibly unlikable jerk. I couldn't have cared less about what happened to him. I thought it was laughably obvious--I had figured out what was going on long before they actually tell us. The pacing in this one is leaden--every scene seems to be dragged out as much as possible. Also the symbolism and "meaning" of this film is about as subtle as a sledgehammer. I actually started to get insulted that everything was being spelled out for us--and in an incredibly slow manner too. It seems the filmmakers thought the audience was composed of a bunch of idiots. It also has a sequence of truly horrifying violence at the end that really didn't need to have been shown. Also there's plenty of nudity in this mostly by Peter Firth.The only thing saving this from being a total disaster was the acting. Joan Plowright is good as Strang's mother and Firth was also good in a very difficult role. But this is Burton's film all the way. He's just superb in his role and manages to single-handedly save this from totally unwatchable. Still, his great acting can't save this film from being a total bore. A 4--and that's just for Burton. This was a critical bomb when it came out--it's easy to see why.