The doctor - an ordinary patient

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Movie
German title The doctor - an ordinary patient
Original title The Doctor
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1991
length 125 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
Rod
Director Randa Haines
script Robert Caswell
production Laura Ziskin
music Michael Convertino
camera John Seale
cut Lisa Fruchtman
Bruce Green
occupation

The Doctor - An Ordinary Patient (Original title: The Doctor ) is an American drama film directed by Randa Haines from 1991 with William Hurt in the lead role. Based on the autobiography of Edward E. Rosenbaum The Doctor. A Doctor Becomes Patient from 1981, Robert Caswell wrote the screenplay.

action

Dr. Jack McKee is a successful surgeon in a prestigious US hospital. During the operations he jokes about his patients ("repairs"), flatters with his colleagues, and makes up for the compassionate ENT surgeon Dr. Eli Blumfield funny and Casanova -like teases his employees. He advises trainee doctors to treat their patients at a distance, because feelings cost time. He humiliates the patients by teasing them about their illnesses. He has estranged himself from his wife Ann and his son Nicky.

Because of a slight sore throat, Jack consults his old family doctor, who notices nothing except a slight swelling on the vocal cords. Jack listens to advice, but doesn't heed it. After an evening appointment on the way home, Jack has a bloody fit of coughing. Ann is very worried, Jack appeases her. He then decides to call a colleague in the hospital, the ENT specialist Dr. Leslie Abbot to look down his throat. Jack is taken by surprise by her businesslike behavior and that she does not see him as an equal colleague, but only as a case among others. Dr. Abbott discovers a malignant tumor on the vocal cords , lists what to do next, and leaves Jack speechless with the diagnosis.

As the illness progresses, Jack experiences cancer treatment like any other patient in this hospital: Doctors and hospital staff talk about him as if he were not there, talk to him like a toddler, do not explain what they are doing with him. His outrage does nothing. Still half anesthetized after the biopsy , he has to undergo an enema helplessly because of a mix-up . Then there is the problem of his colleague Dr. Murray Caplan, trying to cover up a doctor's mistake and expecting Jack to testify in his favor.

During his daily radiation sessions , Jack gets to know other cancer patients. He gradually becomes friends with the terminally ill June Ellis. Through conversations with June, the bullying, arrogant doctor full of self-pity slowly turns into a thoughtful and empathetic person, he can no longer endure the doctors' humiliating jokes. The friendship with June grows deeper, they make a spontaneous trip to Nevada together , which hurts Jack's wife Ann deeply, because Jack has always refused her offers of help and her sympathy. Because June's brain tumor was discovered too late due to medical errors and cost-cutting measures, Jack no longer wants to testify for his colleague Murray, but instead researches the file of the patient concerned, Mr. Richards, which clearly proves a mistake by Murray.

From the radiologist Dr. Reed learns to Jack that the radiation hasn't made his tumor any smaller. On the contrary: because it has grown, Dr. Abbott operate on him. In a casual phone call, she calls Jack “the larynx ”, and she names other patients only after their organs to be operated on. The next day, Jack requests his medical record from Dr. Abbott and instead asks Dr. Blumfield to operate on him. He plans Jack for the operation on the following day, when he is actually free. Later, for the first time in a long time, Jack has a sort of clarifying conversation with Ann. June dies a little later in the hospital.

The operation is going very well, Jack will be released soon, but will not be allowed to speak at first. In the period of convalescence at home he gets despite his muteness with Ann in a dispute that is the beginning of a reconciliation and rapprochement.

The film ends with Jack operating as a surgeon again, lovingly caring for his patients and trying to teach the doctors in training how to work empathically. One day after an operation he was brought a letter: It was from June, who wrote him a touching and encouraging message shortly before her death.

Trivia

Warren Beatty was originally considered for the lead role. However, Haines then decided on William Hurt.

Reviews

Franz Everschor rated the film in the magazine "Filmdienst" with small cutbacks consistently positiveː

“The director Randa Haines has already proven with ' God's Forgotten Children ' that she is able to film an emotionally charged subject without excessive sentimentality. With 'Der Doktor' she does an even better job. How easily this story could have slipped into the swamp of an unbearable melodrama only becomes clear to you when you have already left the cinema. In its unpathetic fascination, the film itself hardly leaves time to reflect on other possibilities of staging. Except for the closing scenes between McKee and his wife, in which Haines lets his emotions run wild, she keeps her actors under such disciplined control that the 'message' the film is trying to convey is not suffocated in syrupy emotions. . "

Janet Maslin is partly praiseworthy and partly critical of the film in the New York Times . She pays special tribute to the play William Hurts and the scenes in the hospital with Mandy Patinkin, Adam Arkin, Wendy Crewson and Zakes Mokae, but criticizes the conventional ending, the at times sentimentality of the story and the unformed characters of the supporting actors.

"William Hurt has an exceptionally wide range on the confidence scale, an ability to move from utter self-assurance to quiet terror that such superiority might crumble. He shows this off to exceptionally good effect in "The Doctor," [...]. The film's ultimate concessions to the sanctity of family life strain credulity in a way that its clear, compelling depictions of illness do not. "

“William Hurt has an exceptionally broad spectrum on the trust scale, an ability to go from complete self-confidence to quiet terror that such superiority could collapse. In “The Doctor - An Ordinary Patient” [...] he shows this extremely well. [...] The film's ultimate concessions to the sanctity of family life weighs on credibility in a way that its clear, persuasive depictions of disease do not. "

Awards

The film received the award "Best Family Feature Film - Drama" at the Young Artist Awards 1992.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Edward E. Rosenbaum: The Doctor. A doctor becomes a patient . Kreuz Verlag, ISBN 978-3-268-00129-3 .
  2. ↑ Judith Michaelson: MOVIES: What Took So Long? Los Angeles Times, July 21, 1991, accessed May 25, 2020 .
  3. ↑ Franz Everschor : The Doctor - An ordinary patient. In: FD edition 02/1992. Film Service, February 1992, accessed May 25, 2020 .
  4. ↑ Janet Maslin : William Hurt as Doctor Whose Spirit Heals When He Falls Ill. In: New York Times. July 24, 1991, accessed June 18, 2020 .
  5. ↑ Janet Maslin : William Hurt as Doctor Whose Spirit Heals When He Falls Ill. In: New York Times. July 24, 1991, accessed June 18, 2020 .
  6. ^ IMDb: Young Artists Awards 1992. In: IMDb. Retrieved June 18, 2020 .