Lilith (1964)

Lilith is a about a mysterious young woman in an elite sanitarium in New England, who seems to weave a magical spell all around her. A restless, but sincere young man with an equally ... See full summary »

Director:

Robert Rossen

Writers:

Robert Rossen, J.R. Salamanca (novel),

Stars:

Warren Beatty, Jean Seberg, Peter Fonda

Nominated for 1 Golden Globe.

Cast

Cast overview:
Warren Beatty	...	Vincent Bruce
Jean Seberg	...	Lilith Arthur
Peter Fonda	...	Stephen Evshevsky
Kim Hunter	...	Dr. Bea Brice
Anne Meacham	...	Mrs.Yvonne Meaghan
Jessica Walter	...	Laura
Gene Hackman	...	Norman
James Patterson	...	Dr. Lavrier
Robert Reilly	...	Bob Clayfield

Storyline

Lilith is a about a mysterious young woman in an elite sanitarium in New England, who seems to weave a magical spell all around her. A restless, but sincere young man with an equally obscure past is seemingly drawn into her web. As time passes, their relationship deepens and intensifies, and the differences between them begin to blur, leading to a shocking, but oddly logical conclusion.

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Plot Keywords:

lilith | psychologist | schizophrenia | character study | gender | 

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Taglines:

Before Eve there was Evil... and her name was Lilith!

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

27 September 1964 (USA)

Also Known As:

Lilith - La dea dell'amore

Filming Locations:

Chestnut Lodge - 500 W. Montgomery Avenue, Rockville, Maryland, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

114 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

According to a recent biography Beatty also pursued 'Romy Schneider' and Samantha Eggar for the title role.

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Goofs

When the staff and patients are loading up to go on their picnic, one of the cars is a 1959 Ford station wagon. When they arrive at their destination, the car has changed into a 1960 Ford wagon.

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Quotes

Lilith Arthur: You've killed with these hands. Why?
Vincent Bruce: That's the business of a soldier.
Lilith Arthur: You must love your God a lot to kill for him and still go on loving him. I'd never ask that of a lover. I'd only ask his joy.

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Connections

Spoofed in Edge of Sensation (1990)

User Reviews

Horrifying in unexpected ways

One of the great pleasures of watching older films is that, beyond the obvious joys of character and plot, they also offer us a look past the films' action and into the world in which they were made: the fashions of dress, design, and social attitude that prevailed at the time. All of this "background," so taken for granted by the filmmakers in their day, can, when seen across a focal space of time and social change, reveal fascinating elements unguessed-at when the films were made.

So it is with LILITH. Other comments on this film have more than adequately discussed the plots and motivations of the characters; what I found unexpectedly mesmerizing and appalling was its view of the mental institution of the mid-1960s. Warren Beatty's character has no experience in such a setting, but he'd like to "help people," so he's hired on the spot and immediately put in charge of patients who, by definition, aren't responsible for their own actions. The inmates seem to be mostly left to do as they please, whether it be teetering at the edge of a precipitous cliff or wandering off in the woods, easily slipping away from their inattentive keepers.

When Beatty's character begins to be attracted to Lilith, the chief shrink calls him in and asks if this is the case. "No, I don't think so," says Beatty, patently lying through his teeth. "Well," says Dr Big reassuringly, "it's not unheard-of for patients to fall in love with the orderlies, and sometimes, unfortunately, it happens the other way as well." And that's that: with this appalling (to modern-day ears, at any rate) bit of 'advice,' or possibly nudge-wink encouragement, he pats the oafish horndog on the back, tells him he's doing a great job, and sends him off to town on yet another date with Lilith. Whenever Beatty does express concern about anything job-related, the medical staff just interrupts him with "don't worry, you're doing a fine job" and gently shoos him out.

What a different world it was, forty years ago! Mind you, I'm not judging the film by social standards that never occurred to its time; indeed, the things it reveals about the 'care' of mental patients in 1963 are what made it most interesting to me. All the characters are either entertainingly insane or arrestingly clueless idiots, and Lilith herself is a sufficiently complex and compelling character to make this melodrama watchable all on her own.