Stonehearst Asylum

Stonehearst Asylum, previously known as Eliza Graves, is an American Gothic film directed by Brad Anderson and written by Joseph Gangemi. It is loosely based on the 1845 short story "The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether" by Edgar Allan Poe. The film, starring Kate Beckinsale, Jim Sturgess, Michael Caine, Ben Kingsley, and David Thewlis, was released on October 24, 2014. Plot In 1899, an Oxford University professor demonstrates a patient with a case of female hysteria, Eliza Graves, before his class, including a young man. Though the patient protests that she is sane, the professor points out that all mental patients claim to be sane. The young man later arrives at Stonehearst Asylum, where he desires to take up residency. A group of armed men, led by Mickey Finn, allow him entry. Finn escorts him to the office of the superintendent, Dr. Silas Lamb, where he introduces himself as Dr. Edward Newgate from Oxford. Lamb's unorthodox methods surprise Newgate. Lamb says that he does not believe in drugging or incarcerating patients, and he encourages their delusions when he feels it will bring them greater happiness. Newgate becomes infatuated with Graves, who is a patient at Stonehearst. During the Christmas Eve feast, Newgate and Finn argue and, as a truce, Finn proposes a toast. Before Newgate can drink it, Graves causes him to spill his drink and quietly insists that he flee the asylum, but Newgate refuses to leave without her.