Altered states- Nova, Devon and Dominique

Altered States: An In-depth Review

Movie: Altered States

Trailer: https://youtu.be/67lYG7a4YOA

Directed by: Ken Russell

Screen-written by: Paddy Chayefsky

Main cast: William Hurt as Edward Jessup, Bob Balaban as Arthur Rosenberg, Blair Brown as Emily Jessup, Charles Haid as Mason Parrish

Run time: 1h 44m

What to expect

Arthur (Bob Balaban) and Edward ‘Eddie’ Jessup (William Hurt) are two scientists interested in the workings of the human mind. He and Arthur experiment with isolation tanks- chambers that limit one’s senses by removing external stimuli in order to leave as much as possible up to the brain. In order to study different states of consciousness, Dr. Jessup uses himself as the guinea pig. Deciding he wants to go further with his research, Eddie goes to Mexico and starts using a strange, unanalyzed drug used in indigenous rituals. He soon discovers that the drug, combined with the effects of the isolation tank, causes his body and mind to devolve into a more primitive state. His friends and wife, Emily, try to stop his research, but he is determined to figure out the true nature of life and consciousness, even if it’s at the cost of his own life.

           The film uses a variety of cinematographic techniques to heighten the emotions of dramatic scenes. One of Russell's favourite techniques is using short takes and rapid cross-cutting during Jessup’s hallucination scenes, to create a fast-paced and disturbing experience. The dreamlike cuts between Jessup’s memories of his sick father and Biblical imagery like hellfire, goats with many eyes and a man being crucified are disturbing eyesores. Shorter takes are also often used when Jessup starts physically “regressing”, switching from shots of his pained expression to the morphing body parts, such as the scene of him sleeping with one of his students, where it looks like something is wriggling under his skin and his feet briefly transform into six toed proto-human feet. It certainly creates the atmosphere it was going for, although it can be visually overwhelming.

To create suspense, as demonstrated by the longer, the film uses tracking shots following the characters’ lines of sight, such as when Jessup is removed from the isolation tank for the first time at the beginning of the film, and when the guards are searching for a proto-human Jessup in the boiler room. By following the characters’ gazes or watching from an over-the-shoulder perspective, viewers are drawn into that character’s point of view and can more effectively feel what they feel.

        Close-ups are also used to portray the characters’ emotions, such as the shots of Jessup’s many odd facial expressions when he takes the Mexican drug for the first time. The close ups display the various range of emotions he appears to be experiencing, ranging from terror to rage to ecstacy, with wide eyes and bared teeth call to mind a sense of a loss of control and regression to more basic instincts, which is said in the film to be an effect of the drug. Similar close-ups of Jessup’s arm transforming and shifting when he regresses, or the close-up of his feet covered in hair with extra toes when he hallucinates in a student’s bedroom are used to gross out the viewers and make them imagine what those changes must feel like.

           Being an older film, the level of special effects available to the crew were limited. The film compensates for this by using a mix of overlapping and modified footage, as well as practical effects. Footage of an ocean wave or a running horse were run through various filters and overlaid onto scenes in the film, turning innocuous footage into something otherworldly. Practical effects like the flashing lights and smoke from Jessup’s first hallucination also served to visualize the effects of the drug (Notar).

        Sound plays a major role in the film as well, both diegetic and non-diegetic working together to make a greater impact. The ceremonial horns played in the cave in Mexico start of as diegetic atmosphere music, and later when Jessup starts regressing, they return non-diegetically as a warning to the audience that things are about to get weird again. Diegetic sounds like the metallic clanging of the vertical isolation tank and Jessup’s breathing in the first scene of the film are amplified in a non-diegetic way for dramatic effect, adding to the unsettling atmosphere as well.

        One of the most significant, but easy to miss visual cues of the film is how its scenes are lit. Cooler tones and high key lighting are generally symbols of grounded reality where low key lighting and warm tones represent the emotionally intense and dangerous world of the altered states of consciousness Jessup achieves (Notar). Dramatic, high stress scenes like Jessup’s hallucinations and Emily’s nightmare about a regressed Jessup transition swiftly to more relaxed scenes, like the bright day on the mountains in Mexico or Emily’s room at night, still more evenly lit than the street from her dreams. The audience learns to associate the appearance of warmer tones with impending danger or unreality, and cooler tones and even lighting with calmer times and reprieve from the bizarre.

Altered States aims to question the nature of consciousness and forces its viewers to open their minds. The film challenges the popular mentality that our standard experience of the world is the only true one. It argues that “altered states” such as those induced by drugs or even that caused by schizophrenia are just as real as the waking state of a neurotypical person.

Throughout the film, there is a recurring dilemma of what consists of ethical research and where we must draw the line. If Dr. Jessup is willing to use himself for the research, is it okay for him to pursue it? He would argue so, though not all the characters would agree. Much like in real life, people disagree on what lengths we should go to for the sake of knowledge and discovery.

The movie also serves as a statement on human values and relationships, especially as it reaches its somewhat cheesy end. Jessup’s relationship with Emily (Blair Brown), the love interest disguised under a PhD, sees its ups and downs in function of how much he feels like being in a relationship with something other than his work. All snideness aside, “Altered States” has its protagonist in a constant balancing act of work vs. love, until tipping the scale in favour of one. In spite of its clear preference, whether our personal ambitions or our relationships with the ones we love are more important is a legitimate question posed by the film.

Word count: 992

Thoughts on the film

Altered States is a veritable roller coaster of plot pivots. As the viewer you are put in a position where you have to question if what you are experiencing is legitimate or not. Because of the experimental concepts involving consciousness that are explored in this film, very little is properly explained and that leaves the viewer in the dark on a lot of things; for instance there is one scene where Ed has taken psychedelic drugs and we see the film through his perspective. Scenes that limit the viewers understanding of what is actually taking place is where the film both excels and struggles. To some, being left the freedom of interpretation is part of enhancing the experience of a story while the downside to this is that there is withheld information that is preventing the viewer from fully understanding what is occurring.

A key deficiency that this film has when compared to its modern day counterparts is it’s dated cinematic and special effects. The numerous scenes littered with abstract visuals have not stood the test of time and to most people nowadays might even be considered laughable. While at the time these may have seemed innovative, they have transitioned into a more appropriate description of “corny”.

           William Hurt’s and Blair Brown’s acting was dynamic and drove the story forward, the set’s and props were spectacular, and most importantly the soundscape was effective at not only driving the narrative but also the plot. If you don’t mind sitting through some cheesy special effects and having to interpret some of the story for yourself, Altered States is an exceptional film to watch.

                       

★★★★☆ ⅘ stars

Connections to course material

1. Consciousness/state consciousness: Jessup is very preoccupied with the nature of consciousness. Schizophrenics, in his opinion, are simply experiencing a different level of consciousness. He argues that different states are just as real as our waking state, including states induced by drugs. Through the use of the isolation tank and hallucinogens Jessup aims to reach some of these “altered states” and study them.  He also makes the claim that entering a more “primitive state” caused physical changes in his body, implying that different levels of consciousness are in fact real. In a more realistic and common setting, examples of state consciousness would include daydreaming, meditating, playing a video game, etc..
   
   
   Our views on these different states vary across cultures. We see this in the film with the tribe from Mexico; the tribespeople have a ritual dedicated to achieving a state in which they supposedly encounter the ‘first soul’ (that is, the origin of consciousness). Back in the U.S. however, the scientists of the film brush this off as mere hallucinations. We are also limited in how much of our consciousness we can experience at a time as well as limited by the capacities of our brains. Edward’s goals include surpassing these barriers as much as possible, but achieving a level of consciousness not previously accessed by humans which eventually leaks in to his waking state.
2. Metaphysics: A major topic of the film is discovering the absolute truth about reality and the self, about finding objective proof of consciousness and biological human history. Is there an ultimate, primordial true self? Jessup’s belief is that there is a tangible self or consciousness that can be localized and searched through, and he uses experimental and dangerous drugs to induce hallucinations that allegedly take him through the past experiences of himself through his genetics. Other characters like Emily believe that there is no ultimate true anything-humans spend their entire lives in doubt of their own existence and one of the ways they cope with this is by loving each other-and that it’s not possible to know for certain anyway.
   
   
   Also explored in the film is the concept of one’s consciousness being able to affect the physical body. While mental and emotional states can have an effect on the physical body’s functioning, Jessup is somehow able to trigger a physical change in his body when he regresses, entering both the state of consciousness of a proto-human, and transforming his body to match. To what extent the physical body is impacted by the mind is a metaphysical question. If the degree of impact the mind has on the physical body displayed in Altered States was true in the real world, current scientific and metaphysical paradigms would be overturned completely.
3. Core Self: After one of the most intense experiments in the sensory deprivation tank Ed regresses into a simian and goes out on the prowl for food. He spends the night in an extremely primitive state where his needs are basic and linear. He has one thing on his mind, that being he wants to survive. After recovering from the night out in the world he recalls what it felt like, expressing that he wasn’t truly experiencing life, he was just living in the moment through his most basic needs; “to eat, drink, and make it through the night”. This is similar to the concept of commonplace minimal self we discussed in class because Ed describes living in that mental states as just existing and only relying on his base needs and continuing to do what’s in his best nature in order to keep surviving.

Questions to think about

1. Do you think Emily should have married and then stayed with Eddie? Why or why not?
2. Would you want to explore intense altered states of consciousness? Why or why not?
3. Do you think some states of consciousness are more “real” than others? Why or why not?

Further reading

https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-psychoactive-22500

An article on psychoactive drugs, like those seen in the film, and their use. Go here for more information on what psychoactive drugs are and the effects they can have on the human consciousness. Information is also provided on how these drugs are classified, where they can be found, why people use them and the potential dangers that accompany their use.

https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/schizophrenia/index.shtml

The above discusses schizophrenia, which can be considered as an “altered state” of sorts. Information is provided on the different forms of the illness and its symptoms. The article also goes into risk factors that may lead to the development of schizophrenia as well as what treatments are available for those affected.

Works Cited

Notar, Clea. Film Studies: Film as Art, John Abbott College, Fall Semester 2017. Class

lecture.

Russell, Ken, director. Altered States. Warner Bros., 1980.

Hartney, Elizabeth, and Steven Gans. “What Does Psychoactive Really Mean?” Verywell Mind, 22 May 2017, www.verywellmind.com/what-is-psychoactive-22500.

“Schizophrenia.” National Institute of Mental Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/schizophrenia/index.shtml.