Institute History
Description
Harry is a good-natured and reasonable young man who must remain heavily medicated to control his psychotic outbursts. Things are going well for him: he has started looking for a job, and his episodes look to be a thing of the past. One day at group therapy, he meets the beautiful Kate and is instantly enthralled by her unique outlook on the world. Love blossoms between them, they move in together, Harry goes to work, and Kate soon becomes pregnant. Dangerously dependent on each other, they make the decision to put aside their medication so that the baby will be born healthy. Before long, the voices inside their heads begin to whisper once more.
Australian newcomer Michael Rymer’s first feature film, Angel Baby, is a beautifully constructed, yet deeply disturbing, drama about the complexity of clinical psychosis and societal attitudes toward it. It is also a deeply felt and moving love story involving two people who choose to forego medication and counseling in the firm belief that they have found a better way. Unbridled performances from John Lynch and Jacqueline McKenzie eloquently convey the torment of living in a society which wishes to allow integration only up to a prescribed point. Beyond this point lies madness or a life lived in vein. Harry and Kate won’t tolerate either.