Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.5

Lilith Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman February 4, 2020

Films about women with mental illness have been a peculiar fascination of mine ever since I went down a Frances Farmer rabbit hole after having seen Frances several decades ago, but one of the kind of ironically cheeky things about Robert Rossen’s Lilith is, while it’s ostensibly about the mental illness suffered by its title character (played by Jean Seberg), it turns out an occupational therapist working at the institution where Lilith has been committed and who develops both a personal and professional interest in her, is maybe just a little bit crazy himself, at least by the end of the film. Rossen's films often had a kind of cold and clinical feel about them, even when dealing in some outsized emotions in efforts like Alexander the Great, and so a film about a worker at a mental institution becoming unhealthily obsessed with a patient there might not seem like a great marriage of material and director, but Lilith is actually a rather interesting if at times perhaps appropriately dissociative film.

Lilith hedges some of its “crazy lady” bets right off the bat, at least in terms of other films depicting insanity in females that take place in less luxe institutional environments (like the aforementioned Frances and The Snake Pit, a film which kind of ironically co-starred Frances Farmer’s erstwhile real life husband Leif Erickson) by positing the drama in a tony place called Poplar Lodge, which administrative doctor Bea Brice (Kim Hunter) states outright is a private sanitarium which caters to only wealthy patients, or at least patients with wealthy families. That gives some of the underlying plot elements here a slightly less real feel, since for all intents and purposes, these “disturbed” people are basically enjoying a stay at a private spa, and so their “troubles” may seem less troubling, so to speak. A vet with some issues of his own named Vincent Bruce (Warren Beatty) applies for an entry level orderly position at the place, stating he wants only to help people, though a brief scene at Bruce’s home with his grandmother and allusions to his deceased mother seem to suggest there may be a bit of “family history” involved as well.

There are several kind of odd elisions in Lilith that may indicate some indelicate tweaking was done in post which removed some content, and those “continuity pauses” are evident in the first meeting between Vincent and Lilith, when Lilith is evidently being difficult about coming to a group picnic and Dr. Brice asks Vincent to go fetch her. In a completely weird and arguably needless scene, Vincent simply goes in and sits next to her in some kind of sunroom, and she just kind of stands up and leaves with him. At the picnic, Lilith’s provocative behavior toward a kind of nerdy, bookish fellow patient named Stephen Evshevsky (Peter Fonda) leads to near disaster, which is when Vincent begins to understand how potentially dangerous Lilith might be.

Lilith definitely pushes the envelope for a mid-sixties film, suggesting that Lilith’s unbridled sexuality leads to calamity for a number of men — and at least one woman. Seberg is really rather interesting in the role, suggesting an almost demonic persona lurking just beneath a sweetly seductive surface. In the unintended irony department, I just started my Born of Fire Blu-ray review with a question as to why the flute is so often represented as an instrument of seduction, and that turns out to be the case once again here, as Lilith is a rather gifted flute (or something like it) player. Born of Fire plays on ideas of a deity playing a flute, but I haven’t been able to find any supporting data or imagery suggesting that the infamous Jewish “sexy succubus goddess” named Lilith was similarly inclined.

Rossen’s tendencies toward a kind of slightly verité style tend to brazenly clash with some of his artier proclivities in Lilith, and as such the film can kind of feel like a tonal roller coaster, with some scenes at least approaching verisimilitude, and others playing like some gonzo carnival suffused with montages of sexual ecstasy. The film does offer some nicely nuanced performances from a coterie of great performers, including Jessica Walter as a former flame of Vincent's, and Gene Hackman as her husband. It’s all rather odd and unsettling, and comes to a rather bizarre conclusion that seems to suggest at least one not particularly wealthy patient might soon be admitted to the sylvan enclave of Poplar Lodge.

Lilith Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Lilith is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Powerhouse Films' Indicator imprint with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. As tends to be the case with Indicator releases, there isn't a ton of technical information in the insert booklet, and the generic verbiage just basically states that an "HD remaster" by Sony was the source for this presentation, and that the mono audio was remastered at the same time. Sony-Columbia is typically one of the more reliable curators of its catalog, and that proves to be the case here again, with Eugen Schüfftan's rather lustrous, at times almost Abstract Expressionist, cinematography looking healthy and organic, with good, solid contrast and well modulated gray scale. The film does have a preponderance of optical dissolves, and there are some pretty dramatic upticks in grain and concomitant lessening of sharpness and overall detail levels in a number of these moments. There are also a couple of curious moments where the grain spikes and detail levels falter aside and apart from any issues with opticals, but those are the exception rather than the rule.

Lilith Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Lilith features a fine sounding LPCM Mono track which capably supports dialogue, some ambient environmental effects in scenes like the picnic sequence, and Kenyon Hopkins' kind of strange score. I'm a big fan of Hopkins' music, but his score here didn't strike me as particularly helpful. The main theme is kind of anachronistically chirpy and happy, something that seems to be at odds with the subject matter. Some of his orchestral flourishes struck me as being better suited to some kind of romantic drama set on the European continent. All of that said, the track supports the musical elements, including the "flute" playing, perfectly well.

Lilith Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• The Guardian Interview with Warren Beatty is an audio career retrospective with the actor done in 1990. This comes with a warning about "a range of technical problems". This actually is authored to play under the actual film, as a kind of quasi-commentary track, and lasts until circa 1:26:30.


• The Suffering Screen (1080p; 24:45) is a really interesting visual essay by Amy Simmons which explores how films have treated madness in women.


• The Many Faces of Jean Seberg (1080p; 7:53) is an appreciation of the actress by Pamela Hutchinson.


• Theatrical Trailer (1080p; 2:30)


• Image Gallery (1080p)

Additionally, Indicator provides its typically nicely appointed insert booklet, with an essay, interviews with both Robert Rossen and Jean Seberg, some contemporary reviews, cast and crew listings and technical data (along with a few stills).

Lilith Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Lilith has a number of unexplained or at least underdeveloped elements, including things like Lilith's fascination with roaring water, or even the full extent of whatever PTSD Vincent is experiencing. There are also a number of other weirdnesses Rossen introduces, though some may be culled from the source novel (which I've never read). This offers a really interesting performance from Seberg, and fans of her or other members of this interesting cast may want to check this out despite any perceived flaws. Technical merits are solid, supplements very interesting, and with caveats noted, Lilith comes Recommended.