Lilith

1964

1h 54m

Drama

List

86%

7 Reviews

Tomatometer

63%

500+ Ratings

Audience Score

Handsome young therapist Vincent Bruce (Warren Beatty) is a war veteran who works at a private sanitarium. Vincent's life gradually becomes unhinged as he falls for Lilith Arthur (Jean Seberg), an attractive, unstable and highly manipulative patient. When Stephen Evshevsky (Peter Fonda), another patient at the institution, also becomes enamored with Lilith, it triggers jealousy and desperation in Vincent, leading to a series of dramatic developments.

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Director and writer Robert Rossen (All the King's Men, The Hustler) made this his last movie, as he was disillusioned with Hollywood*. What a film to go out on, a bleak and sullen meditation on mental health and lost love. Vincent Bruce (Warren Beatty) has returned from the war, but perhaps not all of him mentally has, but he finds work at Chestnut Lodge in Rockville, Maryland. There, he seeks to help — and becomes obsessed by — an artistic patient named Lilith (Jean Seberg, an icon of the French New Wave and a woman so hounded by the FBI that she had a miscarriage and continually tried to kill herself on every anniversary of her lost child's birthday until she succeeded). Lilith is seduction incarnate, as though she secludes herself inside her room, her mind is at the same level as her outward appearance. Every person she encounters wants her and she also has no compunction over seducing everyone she meets, no matter their age. This begins to upset Bruce as they become lovers and he becomes more jealous of her multiple affections, even causing another patient, Stephen Evshevsky (Peter Fonda) to kill himself after he learns that the man has romantic feelings for Lilith. That death takes Lilith back into her world of seclusion, reminding her of the moment that her life would never be the same again: her brother killed himself after she made incestuous attempts to make love to him. With appearances by Gene Hackman, Jessica Walter and Kim Hunter, this is a movie that may haunt me for some time, much like the woman at the center of this story. It doesn't end happily at all and actually has quite an open close, if that is an actual phrase. I wondered what "hiara pirlu resh kavawn" written above Lilith's bed meant. According to the book, it's her own language and says, "If you can read this, you will know I love you." *Kim Hunter said, "The tensions on the set contributed to his (Rossen's) death. I don't think I want to talk about it."

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/06/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Shiva is Lilith and wears Vasuki (king of the snakes) around her neck because Vasuki helped churn the cosmic ocean when the Gods needed such changes to be made. What can you say about snakes? They are poisonous, but their poison can also be used to cure the effects of their own snake bites. Shiva drank the haLAhaLA (black time puzzle) and who can say if this wasn't Vasuki's own poison? Nevertheless, Shiva loves her Samael-snake, no matter their battles like Egg vs Serpent, and she resolved to live with all the pieces of black time.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/17/23

Full Review

michele a

Weird --Warren Beatty was good

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

steve d

Really uncomfortable but well acted.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

Full Review

Audience Member

The best romance movie ever made!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/26/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Unlikely tale - even for the 1950's or 60's, of a young veteran apprenticed to become an orderly at an asylum, and falling in love with an inmate. If you can get past the premise, this is a well made film from several technical considerations.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/25/23

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Robert Rossen

Director

Warren Beatty

Vincent Bruce

Jean Seberg

Lilith Arthur

Peter Fonda

Stephen Evshevsky

Kim Hunter

Dr. Bea Brice

Anne Meacham

Mrs.Yvonne Meaghan

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Melissa Anderson

Village Voice

The story of Lilith - a man's love for a manipulative madwoman makes him go insane - may not be especially gripping, but the way that it's told highlights an intriguingly perverse sensibility.

Jul 14, 2015

Full Review

Joan Didion

Vogue

For every scene which disturbs the imagination there is an immediate and easy answer; for every uneasy glimpse of that emotional slippage, there are fifty minutes of therapy.

Mar 16, 2020

Full Review

Richard Oulahan

LIFE

What lifts this film out of the ordinary -- and makes it worth the trip to the theater -- is the lilting performance of Jean Seberg as Lilith.

Oct 16, 2019

Full Review

Fernando F. Croce

CinePassion

The awkwardness of a macho auteur attempting feminized poetry lends the work the nervousness necessary for authentic lyricism

Feb 14, 2010

Full Review

Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com

Much misunderstood and a commercial flop in 1964, Lilith is well acted by Warren Beatty and one of the first American films to deal with mental illness and the fine line between therapists and patients while using the stylistics of the French New Wave.

Rated: B+

Jul 12, 2009

Full Review

Dennis Schwartz

Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews

Brilliant and delicate, but also depressing and enigmatic psychodrama.

Rated: A-

Mar 24, 2008

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Synopsis

Handsome young therapist Vincent Bruce (Warren Beatty) is a war veteran who works at a private sanitarium. Vincent's life gradually becomes unhinged as he falls for Lilith Arthur (Jean Seberg), an attractive, unstable and highly manipulative patient. When Stephen Evshevsky (Peter Fonda), another patient at the institution, also becomes enamored with Lilith, it triggers jealousy and desperation in Vincent, leading to a series of dramatic developments.

Director: Robert Rossen
Production Co: Columbia
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): Dec 15, 2010
Runtime: 1h 54m

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