British Actress Blog

55 Steps (2017)

Score: 7/10

Director: Bille August

Stars: Helena Bonham Carter, Hilary Swank, Jeffrey Tambor.

The Honorable Mention Series:

Synopsis: Eleanor Riese is a patient in a psychiatric hospital who has had her rights violated by unethical medical practices. She seeks the help of her lawyer Colette Hughes, by filing a lawsuit to change the way patients are treated and medicated by the medical staff and their doctor.

Review: Eleanor Riese (Helena Bonham Carter ) is a mental patient in a psychiatric hospital who has been abused by both the doctors and the staff. After being forcefully medicated against her will with medication that is destroying her urinary tract, Eleanor seeks the help from a lawyer named Colette Hughes ( Hilary Swank ) who files a lawsuit that helps patients and their doctors work together in order to treat mental illness rather than giving up their rights as humans in order to be subjugated to unethical practices.

Helena Bonham Carter plays “crazy” a little well, just kidding. Helena Bonham Carter has amazing range as an actress. I love watching her movies. She definitely gives an amazing performance in this movie and is completely convincing as a certified nut case. I love her roles as Marla from Fight Club (1999) and her role as Bellatrix Lestrange in the Harry Potter Series.

The film focuses on the concept of humanism. Like the movies Stonehearst Asylum (2014), Hysteria (2011), and The Danish Girl (2015) patients were treated as though they were not human. These movies take place in the past but it is strange to see people being mistreated in the present day. We really do live in a different time but from films like Suffragette (2015), we can see that it took a lot to get where we are today.

The cinematography is above average. The backgrounds are not ground breaking at all. The only backgrounds that are well done are the courthouse scenes. The lighting is just well enough. The set dressing and wardrobe are just fine for this kind of film. This is not an action film, just a quite movie that is based in realism. It is based on a true story after all. The movie is better than average because the film sticks to scenes that actually adds something to the story that was significant in these women’s lives. Of course we have to keep in mind that the events of this court case are long and have been shortened into a two hour movie and what we have is a well done film. This movie is slightly above average and worth the watch.

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More Helena Bonham Carter Films.

Cinderella (2015)

The King’s Speech (2010)

Suffragette (2015)

The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet (2013)

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009)

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2010)

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011)

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