**** MAJOR SPOILERS !!! MAJOR SPOILERS !!!!!!!! *****
The back-breaking part of this film was how slowly it evolved. Like nails scraping a blackboard, it finally got to the doctor "doctoring" his patient's IV. There seemed to be little scientific backdrop to any of the times he spiked the UTI medication (just one 5-minute block on this would have sufficed, not two). With a team of a researcher and a specialist and researcher collaborating and overseeing, they found nothing! What was in the IV? The pills? Dr. House would have got to the bottom of this mess in five seconds.
The love story was weak -- a shallow, emotionally underdeveloped physician, whose only reason for becoming a doctor was to gain respect, has an affection for a teenager, consummated by a solitary kiss when she's passed out. The Lolita story is not new. Nor is doctor adoration.
The only enjoyable part (and real action) was when he killed the orderly. But this too was unbelievable. The doctor seemed more worried about material in the girl's diary being culpatory when at most it would reveal her one-sided, subjective infatuation. A more credible story would be that the doctor wanted to know her true feelings about him and their "relationship." That would have been more interesting despite the creep factor.
The scene near the end when the doctor ran (or imagined he ran) into the ocean and nearly drowned was weak. And weakened further when he returned after jumping out a window, standing on the beach for a bit, after his toilet was noisily overflowing with a perceptive detective in the next room. The only realistic explanation could be that the doctor actually committed suicide in the water and the ending was an afterlife fulfilment of his life dream – confidence, respect.
The acting I liked was the orderly and the father. Their characters were a bit oversimplified but scenes of the orderly trying to get laid and the father threatening the doctor were a welcome change from the sappy, beatific look assumed by the doctor, which also added to the boredom. The detective and Nurse Theresa were realistic and I think both actors accepted a script that was far below their levels.
I also think it's unrealistic that a family with two attractive young daughters would invite the doctor into their house so openly – with a naivete that set up the beginning of the murder – prefaced by the father saying his youngest had really "taken a shine" to the doctor. Even less credible was the doctor actually accepting such an invitation -- more than once. In what year or what small town would we see such a turn of events? But I did like the abrupt, inconsistent ending. The doctor finally had arrived. After having murdered two people, seeped in the self-confidence he has always lacked, you see him multi-tasking, saving lives, fielding rapid-fire life-or-death questions finally in his glory and his element. And in a few seconds it shook the morose, gnawing feeling that had been hanging through the whole film.
The film lacked a frank, realistic discussion of the issue of ethics in doctor-patient relationships.
The back-breaking part of this film was how slowly it evolved. Like nails scraping a blackboard, it finally got to the doctor "doctoring" his patient's IV. There seemed to be little scientific backdrop to any of the times he spiked the UTI medication (just one 5-minute block on this would have sufficed, not two). With a team of a researcher and a specialist and researcher collaborating and overseeing, they found nothing! What was in the IV? The pills? Dr. House would have got to the bottom of this mess in five seconds.
The love story was weak -- a shallow, emotionally underdeveloped physician, whose only reason for becoming a doctor was to gain respect, has an affection for a teenager, consummated by a solitary kiss when she's passed out. The Lolita story is not new. Nor is doctor adoration.
The only enjoyable part (and real action) was when he killed the orderly. But this too was unbelievable. The doctor seemed more worried about material in the girl's diary being culpatory when at most it would reveal her one-sided, subjective infatuation. A more credible story would be that the doctor wanted to know her true feelings about him and their "relationship." That would have been more interesting despite the creep factor.
The scene near the end when the doctor ran (or imagined he ran) into the ocean and nearly drowned was weak. And weakened further when he returned after jumping out a window, standing on the beach for a bit, after his toilet was noisily overflowing with a perceptive detective in the next room. The only realistic explanation could be that the doctor actually committed suicide in the water and the ending was an afterlife fulfilment of his life dream – confidence, respect.
The acting I liked was the orderly and the father. Their characters were a bit oversimplified but scenes of the orderly trying to get laid and the father threatening the doctor were a welcome change from the sappy, beatific look assumed by the doctor, which also added to the boredom. The detective and Nurse Theresa were realistic and I think both actors accepted a script that was far below their levels.
I also think it's unrealistic that a family with two attractive young daughters would invite the doctor into their house so openly – with a naivete that set up the beginning of the murder – prefaced by the father saying his youngest had really "taken a shine" to the doctor. Even less credible was the doctor actually accepting such an invitation -- more than once. In what year or what small town would we see such a turn of events? But I did like the abrupt, inconsistent ending. The doctor finally had arrived. After having murdered two people, seeped in the self-confidence he has always lacked, you see him multi-tasking, saving lives, fielding rapid-fire life-or-death questions finally in his glory and his element. And in a few seconds it shook the morose, gnawing feeling that had been hanging through the whole film.
The film lacked a frank, realistic discussion of the issue of ethics in doctor-patient relationships.