SnoReptilePlenty Memorable, crazy movie

Kidskycom It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

Lollivan It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Scarlet The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Martin Bradley As had so often been the case in the past the best thing about Alexander Singer's "Psyche '59" is Walter Lassally's luminous cinematography. This British drama revolves around Patricia Neal, blinded in an accident but aware that her blindness is psychosomatic and not physical. She's married to Curd Jurgens and has a flightly younger sister, (Samantha Eggar), who comes to stay. There's a fourth character played by Ian Bannen who wanders in and out of their lives.The movie wasn't a success despite its excellent cast and has virtually disappeared. Singer came to the film fresh from his cult classic "A Cold Wind in August" and perhaps more was expected of him than he delivered. It doesn't really work as a thriller; plot-wise it's something of a one-trick pony and outside of its cast of four there is no-one to latch on to and consequently few red herrings. It might have worked as a tale of sisterly rivalry if it wasn't so banal and what almost amounts to a subplot involving Bannen's character almost proves more interesting.It's not really a bad film, (though the ending is gob-smackingly awful), just a very strange one and it's easy to see why it flopped. It's the kind of film that might appeal to the so-called intelligensia looking for meanings that aren't really there. See it by all means; just don't expect too much.

mark.waltz Two fabulous actresses are absolutely wasted in this dreadful sex melodrama that was probably too forgettable to end up on critic's worst list. Patricia Neal tries her best to add class into this tasteless combination of sisterly rivalry and smut that I label "A Patch of Blue Movies". Patricia is a blind woman trying to remember what lead her to become blind, unaware that her husband (Curt Bergens) is trying to seduce her much younger sister (Samantha Eggar) who taunts him while Neal blindly sits by, unaware at first. But the blind have great insight, one thing that the film did get right, and if you haven't nodded off by the time Neal figures this out, then you might go into shock that something with thought behind it just happened.This is painful to get through, a combination of its trashiness and abuse to Neal's character. From her husband, sister, harridan mother in law. They are all slime. Films that utilize sex to move the plot forward or develop one are fine, but this one seems to be getting off on its perversion. I admire Neal for taking on bold roles, but this one makes me winder what she saw when she read the script.

MarieGabrielle I am admittedly biased after seeing her in "The Subject Was Roses", an incredible achievement by Patricia Neal. That being said, this film "Psyche 59" deals with Neal and her seemingly caring husband Curd Jurgens (always believable as middle-aged man, malcontent).The story starts with Neal in her comfortable London town home, where she is blind due to a tragic accident five years earlier. Her sister Robin (Samantha Eggar) comes to stay with her, which for some reason annoys Jergens. We see the reason clearly as the film unwraps, Eggar's personality as she flirts with her sister's husband. It is rather hard to believe the storyline here that Robin (Eggar) is 17 in this film, as she looks to be about 30 in real life, and manner.If you can suspend the disbelief a bit (Eggar becomes shrill and annoying at the end, attempting to gain attention from Curt Jurgens).They stay at the grandmother's country estate for a beach vacation, and the grandmother is , as another reviewer mentioned, rather an extraneous character and its puzzling as to why she has been included in the film, even.Overall though while the story moves slowly at some points, keep watching for Patricia Neal. She saves the storyline and makes the film well worth your time. Recommended.

moonspinner55 Françoise des Ligneris's novel "Psyche '59" becomes a fine dramatic vehicle for the always-sympathetic Patricia Neal, here playing the wife of a wealthy businessman who is suffering from 'hysterical blindness' after a mysterious fall; when sister Samantha Eggar comes to live with her after a failed attempt at marriage, years-old tensions (both resentful and sexual) between Eggar and brother-in-law Curt Jurgens rise to the surface. As photographed in glossy black-and-white by the esteemed Walter Lassally, the picture is a shiny, classy piece of goods, yet director Alexander Singer takes an awfully long time to warm up. The plot (or rather, the point inherent to the plot) doesn't make itself known for at least an hour into the proceedings, while the pretty images and visual tricks eventually become a nuisance. Singer doesn't appear to wrap things up cohesively with his finale, yet it's actually his best bit: Neal's mental handicap and Eggar's need to be the proverbial thorn in the rosebush are dealt with in solely visual terms, and the silent emotions released are triumphant. A near-miss, but worthwhile for fans of psychological melodramas verging on soap opera. **1/2 from ****