Post by FRANK the giant bunny on Mar 20, 2011 9:27:49 GMT -5
THE STORY OF ALTERED STATES
Altered States is the strangest love story you will ever see, it stars William Hurt as a mad-scientist of sorts, a truly Faustian character obsessed with discovering the ultimate truth of existence. Dr Jessup is driven by the death of his father when he was 16, before that time he had been seeing visions of saints and even Christ himself, but the painful death that his father suffered destroyed his faith.
Working with schizophrenics Jessup becomes interested, obsessed really, with inner spiritual experience, something which is strongly connected to this type of disorder. As Jessup says, its almost as if they are trying to change their physical selves to adapt to their schizophrenic image of themselves. Jessup has doubts about whether schizophrenia is even a disease, that perhaps man is just another state of consciousness. It is at this time that he begins to fool around with sensory deprivation, and eventually combines this with a mind altering drug used by the Hitchi Indians of New Mexico, a drug which they say provokes old memories, in the primordial sense.
Dr Jessup has a traumatic experience with his latest deprivation experiment. The signs for this were clear from the last test but at that time someone else was there, but now he has gone off on his own. It seems that Dr Jessup has reverted into a semi-simian state, a creature which apparently is a missing link between the ape and the human. While in this form he is attacked by a pack of dogs but escapes and eventually winds up at the local Zoo with no memory of what had occurred the night before.
His wife, though she is also a scientist is very concerned for his well being, she does not share his theories and is convinced that he is on the way to a mental breakdown. They divorce due to his obsessions, she is obviously in love with him, and he with her, even though he has never indicated such to her. A very important sequence in the film takes place between her and Jessup before they were engaged (referred to below). At this point however Jessup is far too deep in his work to really consider anything she is saying.
My favorite line comes from Charles Haid's character (also played Officer Andy Renko on Hill Street Blues), there are a few scenes where he just goes off on a rampage, screaming out his concerns and apprehension concerning the experiments performed by Jessup. "I'm not going to stand here and listen to any more of your Kabbalistic, quantum physic, superstitious, stupid mambo jumbo" makes my smile every time
And of course...."Fuck!! the Hitchi Indians"
In the end Dr Jessup gets what he desired, his last experiment has transformed him into a being of pure energy, his fusion with his first-self nearly kills him and now his desire to embrace the absolute is out of control, it is beginning to grow inside of him. The entire experience has driven him and everyone around him to near hysterics, bringing to mind the old adage, be careful what you wish for, you just may get it. Or as the Gospel of Thomas says "Those who seek should not stop seeking until they find. When they find, they will be disturbed."
Altered States was Drew Barrymore's first film, she was about 3 years old at the time.
John Larroquette has a small role as a x-ray technician
THE GNOSIS OF ALTERED STATES
We find three perfect summations for a gnostic interpretation of the film within the characters dialog.
"It is the self, the individual mind that contains immortality and ultimate truth. Its in our own minds, its a form of human energy. Our atoms a six billion years old, we've got six billion years of memory in our minds. Memory is energy, it doesn't disappear, its still in there, there a physiological pathway to our earlier consciousness. Everybody is looking for their true selves, we're all trying to fulfill ourselves, understand ourselves, expand ourselves. Ever since we've dispensed with God we've got nothing but ourselves to explain this meaningless horror of life. That first self is a real, mensurate, quantifiable thing....tangible and incarnate....and I'm going to find the fucker"
If you know yourself as having an affinity with the alien or stranger God, cut off from this world, then you are a Gnostic, and perhaps the best and strongest moments still come to what is best and oldest in you, to a breath or spark that long precedes this Creation. -The Genesis Factor by Stephan A. Hoeller
"Your soul will return to the first soul. It is your unborn stuff. Then you will be propelled into the void. You will see a spot, the spot will become a crack. This is the crack between the Nothing....and out of this nothing will come your unborn soul."
[...] with the Gnostics, that "to find ourselves is to know our source," and "the ultimate source whence we came is the One. -The Gnostic Apostle Thomas: Chapter 3
"You are a Faust freak Eddie. You'd sell your soul to find the great truth. Well, human life doesn't have great truths. We're born in doubt. We spend our lives persuading ourselves we're alive. And one way we do that is we love each other, like I love you"
[...] the return of the soul into the loving embrace of her bridegroom, as indicated by the return of Sophia into the arms of Jesus, then represents the healing of this disruption and restoration of wholeness. -A Gnostic for All Seasons by Stephan A. Hoeller