The curved lines of God, the bewitching thriller starring Bárbara Lennie, has been available since December 9 on Netflix. Inspired by a novel by Torcuato Luca de Tena released in 1979, it is not inspired by a true story but the author has, like her heroine (according to what she claims), infiltrated a psychiatric unit to develop her novel and build its characters. As close as possible to the interned patients, he understood all the workings of these establishments like no other. In this novel, a few lines are dedicated to health professionals, whose work commands admiration: “The curved lines of God are, indeed, very twisted. Exemplary, tenacious and even heroic men and women are trying to straighten it. (…) The deep admiration I felt for their work during my voluntary stay in a psychiatric hospital has increased the gratitude and respect I have always felt for the medical profession. That is why I dedicate these pages to doctors, nurses, caretakers, carers.” The film directed by oriol paulo (The Accused) and available on Netflix plays with our perception of reality and has fun covering things up with flashbacks. If the end gives free rein to the interpretation of the spectator, certain tracks allow us however to understand the coded message of the filmmaker.
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Was Alice really sick? The clues that prove it to us
All along the project The curved lines of God, we wonder regarding the veracity of the words told by Alice, who has become Alicia since her internment. What is certain is that it is true that this person is very intelligent and manipulative, but at the end of the story several questions remain. Did Alice really want to kill her husband? Did Heliodoro really steal all his money? Is Alice distorting reality? The first sign that should alert us is that when she joined the psychiatric hospital, it was to investigate the murder of a boy, supposedly the son of Doctor del Olma. As surprising as it may seem, when it took place, Alice was in the establishment! It was she who set the fire, which caused panic among the patients and the man-elephant then attacked one of the twins. Question of chronology, the first story told by Alice therefore does not fit. She cannot be committed to investigate a homicide she herself caused.
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Who died in the mental hospital?
Another confusion that deserves to be clarified: the twin killed by the man-elephant is not the one everyone believes. Only Alice detected the truth, another clue that might prove to us that only a patient can understand another patient… Indeed, it was not Romulus who died that night. He had gone to save his sister during the fire, and the elephant-man took Remus for his twin and killed him. Alice claims that as a mother figure, she can tell the difference between Romulus and Remus. When the various doctors at the psychiatric establishment vote for the release of Alice, who claims to be confined here by force, a man appears. This is the doctor who would have hired him to investigate the murder of Remus, killed by the man-elephant. As a reminder, the real Dr. del Olma had been presented in the office of the director of the hospital.
What the arrival of the “doctor” tells us at the end of the film
When he arrives, he asks her “what did she get herself into once more”, implying that he knows her well. It might therefore be that this doctor whom she believes to be del Olma, and who would have hired her to intern the hospital, is in reality Dr. Donadio, the one who has always followed her. There is mischief and mistrust in Alice’s eyes that cause us to question her version of events. Her face at the end of the film betrayed a state of dementia, Alice seeming to struggle with how to justify what had just happened. Be careful though, she was not just talking nonsense in our opinion: her husband was not trustworthy and did not hesitate to take advantage of her mental instability. He certainly stole all his money, and this is confirmed by the bankers. Moreover, the director of the establishment certainly collaborated with him, hence the check found in his office by one of the employees. If we consider this to be the truth, we can conclude that Alice poisoned her husband following realizing that he was not in love with her and only wanted her fortune. He consulted Dr. Donadio and got him admitted to the hospital, paying the hospital director. Alice’s husband then stole all her money and left the country.
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Article written in collaboration with 6médias
