
Ken made it to America and another shift as he tackles
science fiction. Again it could have been the start of a wealthy but ultimately disappointing
career. However he remained the individualist and despite
the major success of Altered States in 1980- second only to
Tommy- his American ventures though interesting failed.
Russell claims the film was first
offered to Spielberg, Kubrick, Sidney Pollack,
Robert Wise, Welles, Scorsese, Fred Zimmerman,
Woody Allen, Ingmar Bergman, de Palma,
Bertolucci, Boorman, Tarkovsky, Irwin Kirshner,
Coppola, Polanski, Dick Lester, Michael Winner,
Sidney Lummet, Dick Donner, George Lucas, Roeg,
Schlesinger, Truffaut, Zeffirelli, Bryan Forbes
then Ken Russell.

The story concerns Dr Jessup, a
university scientist experimenting with sensory
deprivation causing hallucinations. He
complements his experiments with a visit to
Mexican Native mystics and the potion he drinks
later combined with his experiments cause Hurt to
regress to a Neanderthal creature who´s only aim
is to eat, drink, sleep and survive. A plot driven film with a weak
sub-plot of love conquering Faustian ambition
"you are a Faustian freak, selling your soul
to find the great truth".

The dialogue in the film is at times like the
worst (whining) of Woody Allen´s man-woman self-confessionals. This may
reflect Russell's emotions after his own divorce, but the fault lies
mainly with scriptwriter Paddy Chayefsky. There are too many messages (Faust and selling
one's soul, primeval origins, the essence of soul etc etc) which
conflict with the too busy imagery of psychedelic journeys and bodily
transformation.

The pacing is also faulty. The psychedelic images come very early, and the
Neanderthal creature is shown the moment he
emerges, so at the end of the film there are no
surprises left, rather just repetition of
effects. There is a lot of sentimentality with
gushing violins "if you love me we can fight
it", only occasionally is there some sharp
writing- the student girl in bed still calls her
lover Dr Jessup. But despite its weaknesses it does often
succeed and demonstrated that Russell could turn out
mainstream Hollywood successes. The hallucinations are stunningly beautiful.


The influence of Dali.
He could have developed a career as a sci-fi/
horror director but turned down later sci-fi scripts to
avoid being typecast. If the film was 20 minutes shorter,
with most of the family scenes omitted, it would be a
classic. The budget was $9 million which rose to just under $15
million. After shooting there was a 10 month period of special effects
production.
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