Sins of the Mind
Sins of the Mind | |
---|---|
San Diego, California, USA | |
Cinematography | Billy Dickson |
Editor | Chip Masamitsu |
Running time | 93 minutes |
Production companies | Paramount Television USA Pictures Wilshire Court Productions Digital Magic Company |
Original release | |
Release | June 11, 1997 |
Sins of the Mind is a 1997 American
Plot
The Wideners are an upper-middle-class family of artistically gifted individuals, consisting of photographer father William Widener (Farrell), socialite mother Eve Widener (Clayburgh), and daughters Michelle and Allegra Widener (Crider and co-actress Cyia Batten, respectively). Michelle is a successful commercial artist who chooses to live at home with her parents, but still earns money. Allegra often feels like she is living in Michelle's shadow, and that her parents are pretentious and have constantly fawned over Michelle's prodigious abilities since childhood. The family enjoys a renaissance fair one afternoon. Michelle stays later, getting a ride with friends when the car crashes and Michelle is left comatose. Her family, horrified, wait day and night for her to regain consciousness. While singing "Up Where We Belong" by Jennifer Warnes (a favourite family song), the Wideners are surprised and delighted to find out that Michelle has awoken.
Michelle seems normal, and a brain scan reveals no lasting damage, but she exhibits extremely childlike behaviours and noticeable sexual promiscuity. While in the hospital, she hits on a male nurse,
Michelle is sexually-frustrated at the party, upset when boys she likes are seen with other girls. Sneaking out at night, she bumps into a neighbour, Edward, walking his dog in the forest; the two begin a sexual affair that they make minimal effort to conceal. Allegra is disgusted when she walks in on Michelle later initiating sex with an uncle, and when Edward's wife finds out about his infidelity, she calls Michelle a slut and breaks off her friendship with the Wideners. Allegra moves out, and Eve and William discover that Michelle has been shoplifting and stealing family heirlooms.
Michelle is distraught when her parents try to take her to a brain damage clinic, where it is revealed that her initial
William misses Michelle and learns from Edward that she is living in a room at a brothel. At the brothel, the pimp assaults William, and Michelle flees, returning home out of guilt for what happened to her father. She enters unconventional treatment for sex offenders exhibiting impulse control; all of them are male and former convicts from lower-class upbringings, something that the Wideners object to, but Michelle, the lone female
Despite her progress, Michelle's expensive psychiatric drugs and therapy will be cut off by her insurance provider, leading her to run away from home again. William and Eve later find her living in a homeless shelter, filthy, panicked and covered in dirt. She is brought back home, where she is able to receive therapy again. Allegra returns home after William apologizes for ignoring her while Michelle gives a speech to her family and fellow therapy group members, explaining how her brain damage has changed her as a person.
Cast
- Mike Farrell as William Widener
- Jill Clayburgh as Eve Widener
- Missy Crider as Michelle Widener
- Cyia Batten as Allegra Widener
- Robert Pine as Edward
- Grayson McCouch as Roger
- Louise Fletcher as Dr. Anna Bingham
- Chris Conrad as Peter
- David Grant Wright as Bob Richter
- Douglas Rowe as Dr. Kessler
- Jason Shutliff as Andy
- William Francis McGuire as Dr. Slater
- Carl Gilliard as Dylan Seidner
- Sandra Phillipsas Aunt Sally
- Silas Weir Mitchell as Anderson
Production
Sins of the Mind was filmed on location in
Reception
Sins of the Mind was unfavourably received by critics and reviewers, who saw the film's explicit sexual tones and erotic scenes as inappropriate in light of the story's serious subject matter. Maj Canton of Radio Times felt that the actors, most of whom were from critically-acclaimed media already, had not been given the opportunity to stand out, and called the film a "trashy TV movie, a tawdry exercise in cheap thrills."[3] Amanda By Night of Made for TV Mayhem also criticized the film's overt sexuality in a story about brain damage awareness, adding, "at first Michelle just seems less censored and spunkier (keyword: spunk) and perhaps she is now a girl with a good appetite. But that appetite hungers for more than food and before you can say, “What’s the number to Nymphos Anonymous?” Michelle is having sex with almost any man who doesn't seem to mind taking advantage of a girl with brain damage. And that, my friends, turns out to be a lot of guys!" She praised Missy Crider's acting, however, commenting of the Michelle character, "the acting is fantastic, and Crider is phenomenal in the lead role. She is childish, vampy and confused all at once. The bigger her hair gets, the worse off she is (thank you, nineties TV). Aside from a few questionable moments (hey, is that a nymphomaniac sitting on her daddy’s lap?), she remains a captivating and sympathetic character."[4] The film was not popular with viewers and was never released on DVD, although it was released in the United States and Argentina on VHS.
References
- ^ "Sins of the Mind (TV Movie)". www.imdb.com. The Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 23 May 2022.
- ^ By Night, Amanda (3 September 2014). "The USA World Premiere Movie Project: Sins of the Mind (1997)". madefortvmayhem.blogspot.com. Made for TV Mayhem. Retrieved 23 May 2022.
- ^ Canton, Maj. "Sins of the Mind". www.radiotimes.com. Radio Times. Retrieved 23 May 2022.
- ^ By Night, Amanda (3 September 2014). "The USA World Premiere Movie Project: Sins of the Mind (1997)". madefortvmayhem.blogspot.com. Made for TV Mayhem. Retrieved 23 May 2022.
External links
- Sins of the Mind at IMDb