Altered States - 35MM | Primate Vision

In his long-derided but now-beloved adaptation of the writer Paddy Chayevsky’s novel of the same name, the British filmmaker Ken Russell explores the relationship between psychedelics, love, and primal instincts. Edward Jessup (William Hurt) is a Columbia University psychopathologist who studies schizophrenia by subjecting himself to high doses of LSD while floating in a sensory deprivation tank. His experiments test the limits of his mind and body, and his obsession with uncovering the origins of human thought strains his marriage with fellow “whiz kid” Emily (Blair Brown). Over the course of their tumultuous relationship, Edward’s sudden transformations and retreat into psychedelics become indicative of a male desire to cut-off society and take on a more primal state-of-mind.