Asylum

R

Released Aug 12, 2005

1 hr. 36 min.

Drama

List

36%

91 Reviews

Tomatometer

42%

10,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

An administrator's bored wife (Natasha Richardson) begins a torrid affair with an institutionalized artist (Marton Csokas) who beat his wife to death.

Read More

Read Less

Watch on Fandango at Home

Premiered Mar 05

Buy Now

Fandango at Home

Prime Video

Apple TV

Rent Asylum on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, Apple TV, or buy it on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, Apple TV.

Critics Consensus

This catastrophic adaptation of Patrick McGrath's novel gets sillier and more implausible as it goes along.

Read Critics Reviews

ashley h

Asylum is an okay film. It is about a woman who becomes very curious about one of her psychiatrist husband's inmates. Natasha Richardson and Sean Harris give decent performances. The screenplay is a little slow in places. David Mackenzie did an alright job directing. I liked the motion picture because of the drama and romance.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Brilliant. Simply brilliant.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/24/23

Full Review

Audience Member

I liked it ok I guess. I watch a ton of movies and this is the second movie I have ever watched that I truly hated a character. My God that woman was pathetic.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/14/23

Full Review

william s

I like Richardson's tragic performance but otherwise this film is just out there as far as the script.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Mostly watched for Sir Ian who probably saved this movie. If you like unnecessary eroticism, confusing rape scenes. completely unsympathetic characters and stiff acting then you'll love this movie. Many points are left unclear or completely unexplained expecting the viewer to completely suspend their belief and just go along with it. For a drama that takes itself so seriously that's a ridiculous request. The character I was most interested in had a grand whopping total of about three minutes of screen time and then disappeared forever. You can safely pass this movie up.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

01/14/23

Full Review

Audience Member

85% "Leave me alone."-Stella Raphael (Natasha Richardson) Is the world not an asylum?

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/17/23

Full Review

Read all reviews

Post a rating

David Mackenzie

Director

Natasha Richardson

Stella

Ian McKellen

Peter Cleave

Marton Csokas

Csokas

Hugh Bonneville

Max Raphael

Judy Parfitt

Brenda Raphael

Show Less Cast & Crew

Show More Cast & Crew

27%

58%

The 24th Day

100%

78%

Things Behind the Sun

37%

52%

Self-Medicated

68%

81%

Closer

50%

44%

This Girl's Life

Discover more movies and TV shows.

View More

RT talks to Hallam Foe helmer David Mackenzie

RT-UK’s What to Watch at the Edinburgh Film Festival

View more photos

Roger Moore

Orlando Sentinel

Asylum had promise. But it's bad enough to make one wonder just who had the loose screws -- the characters, or the people who filmed them?

Rated: 2/5

Sep 16, 2005

Full Review

Tom Long

Detroit News

Patrick McGrath's screenplay, based on his novel, has moments big and small, delivered in appropriate dollops of awfulness.

Rated: B-

Sep 16, 2005

Full Review

Terry Lawson

Detroit Free Press

It's a movie you fall for or you don't, and like Stella, I am not ashamed I did.

Rated: 3/4

Sep 16, 2005

Full Review

Kaleem Aftab

The List

What could have been an interesting horror character study... is destroyed by tortuously labored dialogue and a sluggish pace.

Rated: 1/5

Apr 26, 2019

Full Review

Anton Bitel

Eye for Film

offers a bleak vision of the Fifties, where an outbreak of passion or an artistic impulse would be quickly subjected, like any other madness, to containment.

Jul 2, 2007

Full Review

Prairie Miller

Long Island Press

A little like Jack the Ripper in outer space.

Mar 26, 2007

Full Review

Read all reviews

Synopsis

An administrator's bored wife (Natasha Richardson) begins a torrid affair with an institutionalized artist (Marton Csokas) who beat his wife to death.

Director: David Mackenzie
Executive Producer: Michael Barlow, John Buchanan, Chris Curling, Harmon Kaslow
Screenwriter: Patrick Marber, Patrick McGrath
Distributor: Paramount Pictures
Production Co: Zephyr Films
Rating: R (Strong Sexuality|Some Violence|Brief Language)
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Aug 12, 2005, Original
Release Date (Streaming): May 1, 2012
Box Office (Gross USA): $374.9K
Sound Mix: Dolby SRD
Aspect Ratio: Scope (2.35:1)

Most Popular at Home Now