This film based on Peter Shaffer's play "Equus" has won Academy. BAFTA & Golden Globe Awards and deservedly so. It's a truly remarkable and thought-provoking film.
Alan Strang (Peter Firth), a simple stable boy has gone berserk with a sickle blinding the eyes of six beautiful horses. Obviously he is in dire need of psychiatric treatment and Dr. Martin Dysart (Richard Burton) a top man in his field of study undertakes the difficult task of uncovering the reasons for his horrific behaviour. The confrontation between doctor and uncooperative patient is an intriguing aspect of the story.
Alan's mother Dora (Joan Plowright) a religious woman has given him a Christian upbringing (with readings from Job) and she has adorned his bedroom wall with a large picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. His disapproving father replaces the Holy Picture with a picture of a beautiful horse and Alan transfers his deep religious passion to this god-like creature.
Unbeknown to the proprietor of the stables, Alan regularly rides one of the horses naked and bare-back in the darkness of night. This secret he finally admits to the psychiatrist who cleverly uses every ploy to examine Alan's twisted mind. Alan it seems experiences an abounding exhilaration and sexual passion for the horse as he feels its hot and sweaty body between his legs. There is a kind of mystical union between him and the horse as he reaches orgasm, animal and man becoming one in sweet exultation.
Delicately portrayed and beautifully acted, such scenes are rare in the cinema.
An interesting twist to the story occurs when the psychiatrist admits his jealousy of the boy's tremendous passion, something that has always been missing from his own married life.
I have only scratched the surface of this film. It is a real gem which can be viewed over and over again. It poses many questions about how far we should go in influencing the lives of others however well-meaning those intentions may be.
Alan Strang (Peter Firth), a simple stable boy has gone berserk with a sickle blinding the eyes of six beautiful horses. Obviously he is in dire need of psychiatric treatment and Dr. Martin Dysart (Richard Burton) a top man in his field of study undertakes the difficult task of uncovering the reasons for his horrific behaviour. The confrontation between doctor and uncooperative patient is an intriguing aspect of the story.
Alan's mother Dora (Joan Plowright) a religious woman has given him a Christian upbringing (with readings from Job) and she has adorned his bedroom wall with a large picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. His disapproving father replaces the Holy Picture with a picture of a beautiful horse and Alan transfers his deep religious passion to this god-like creature.
Unbeknown to the proprietor of the stables, Alan regularly rides one of the horses naked and bare-back in the darkness of night. This secret he finally admits to the psychiatrist who cleverly uses every ploy to examine Alan's twisted mind. Alan it seems experiences an abounding exhilaration and sexual passion for the horse as he feels its hot and sweaty body between his legs. There is a kind of mystical union between him and the horse as he reaches orgasm, animal and man becoming one in sweet exultation.
Delicately portrayed and beautifully acted, such scenes are rare in the cinema.
An interesting twist to the story occurs when the psychiatrist admits his jealousy of the boy's tremendous passion, something that has always been missing from his own married life.
I have only scratched the surface of this film. It is a real gem which can be viewed over and over again. It poses many questions about how far we should go in influencing the lives of others however well-meaning those intentions may be.