Three Christs Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		1.0
Overall		3.5

Three Christs Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Brian Orndorf June 5, 2020

While he made a promising directorial debut with 1991’s “Fried Green Tomatoes,” Jon Avnet hasn’t managed to match his initial creative and box office success. He’s worked primarily in television in recent years, but the lasting stench of disasters such as 2008’s “Righteous Kill” and 2007’s “88 Minutes” remains. “Three Christs” is meant to slip Avnet back into the warm waters of personal psychological problems, exploring one doctor’s quest to achieve a greater understanding of paranoid schizophrenia during a research project in 1959. The subject is interesting, exploring the depths of troubled minds trapped in an unforgiving care system. However, Avnet can’t get the material moving in any compelling direction, creating a disappointingly plodding endeavor that’s too concerned with melodramatic asides to get to the heart of mental illness.

In the summer of 1959, Dr. Alan Stone (Richard Gere) takes a position at the Ypsilanti State Hospital, entering a system with defined rules of engagement when it comes to the most extreme cases of mental illness, often restoring to shock treatments and lobotomies. Meeting patients Joseph (Peter Dinklage), Leon (Walton Goggins), and Clyde (Bradley Whitford), Stone is confronted with three men who all believe they’re Jesus Christ. Interested in treating these special cases, Stone is joined by assistant Becky (Charlotte Hope), herself a troubled soul, embarking on a unique psychotherapy odyssey that examines behavior, personal history, and respect, offering an empathetic approach to help. Challenged by those in charge, including Dr. Orbus (Kevin Pollak), Stone battles the establishment to make progress with the Three Christs, knowing he can tap into something barbarity can’t reach. During this stressful time, the doctor deals with Becky, who craves her own psychological exploration, and fumbles his family life, unable to connect with his loving wife, Ruth (Julianna Margulies).

“Three Christs” is billed as being “based on actual events,” with screenwriters Avnet and Eric Nazarian adapting social psychologist Milton Rokeach’s book, “The Three Christs of Ypsilanti.” Perhaps a more clinical understanding of Rokeach’s research was needed, but the writing elects to manufacture its own world for the picture, creating Dr. Stone and his curiosity about the human mind, confronting a system intended for care that’s mostly about punishment. Avnet sets up an idyllic home life for the character, who has a caring spouse in Ruth, with the pair enjoying a healthy sex life and successful parenting to young children. However, the job takes Stone away from the comforts of domesticity, and the opening act of “Three Christs” details his introduction to the way things are done at Ypsilanti State Hospital, coming into contact with three unusual men who subscribe to the same backstory of spiritual elevation, but they remain worlds apart in personality and delusions. Once Stone grasps the brutality of treatment going on in the facility, he makes a play to do something different, presenting a plan of therapy to superiors who question the effectiveness of patience.

Most of “Three Christs” remains on Stone’s time with his patients. Joseph believes he’s English, harboring a love for opera. Clyde communicates in commercials jingles. And Leon has profound emotional wounds covering a vast mind. They don’t get along, but the men are forced to share the same space for the therapy sessions, with Stone hoping such combined energy might trigger something different than basic aggression. The concepts of the doctor’s mission are intriguing, connecting to the Christs through concern, kindness, and understanding, capturing their attention by listening to the patients describe their version of reality, even taking to letter writing to tap into focus that’s alien to their existence. Avnet isn’t content to leave “Three Christs” there, often departing from therapy to deal with cliches, including antagonism from Orbus, who wants in on the breakthrough, and fixation from Becky, who has her own mental issues that occasionally manifest in romantic feelings for her boss, creating a painfully contrived moment where Ruth discovers the young woman making an LSD-enhanced move on Stone.

Three Christs Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The AVC encoded image (1.85:1 aspect ratio) presentation offers a sharp view of period production achievements, offering viewers a look at the sterile environment of the hospital and warmer office and domestic interiors. Facial surfaces are crisp, securing age and deterioration, along with fine hairs. Costuming is fibrous, highlighting heavier woolen suits and dresses. Exteriors are dimensional, surveying hospital grounds and suburban homes. Colors are precise, with rooms decorated with medical greens and yellows during therapy scenes, and furniture offers oaky browns. Skintones are natural. Clothing enjoys more subdued hues. Greenery is lively. Delineation is satisfactory, with some brief solidification. Mild banding is detected as well.

Three Christs Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The 5.1 DTS-HD MA sound mix secures the intimacy "Three Christs" is aiming for, delivering a strong sense of performance choices, with dialogue exchanges sharp. Quieter emoting and panicked freak-outs are balanced, with nothing reaching distortive extremes. Scoring is delicate with excellent instrumentation, handling soft strings and piano moods. Low-end isn't challenged, but some buzzing is felt during shock therapy moments. Atmospherics contribute an open sense of room tone for hospital rooms, and a church visit provides real expanse. Occasional panning effects are noted.

Three Christs Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• A Theatrical Trailer (2:33, HD) is included.

Three Christs Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

"Three Christs" always goes for the obvious while trying to put a story together. Performances are incredibly broad, with some actors, including Whitford, way out of their league when it comes to immersion into a complex character. Tragedies are common, as are betrayals to maintain suspense the picture doesn't need. The movie is also agonizingly slow, lingering on superfluous details or often repeating information, refusing to concentrate on the most important matters of communication and medical science. "Three Christs" drags on and on (and it was understandably abandoned at one point, shot over three years ago), but never gets anywhere of note, missing the potential of Rokeach's quest to attack the violence of the mind with a radical level of human engagement.