Hot Docs 2008

When an unconventional 1960s Connecticut couple turn to psychiatry for help with their troubled marriage, their lives spiral out of control. Allis and Charley submit themselves and their four children to a daily barrage of group and individual therapies. But things get worse. Pills are prescribed, family members are sent away. The family, as instructed by their doctors, record their discussions and fights. Smart, free-thinking Allis begins to question the therapy. Her heart-wrenching audio diaries tell a story of oppression, abuse and institutionalized misogyny. Remarkably, all of these recordings were preserved, hidden away for Allis's children to discover after her death. The film uses this intimate material combined with home movies and an unusual soundtrack to viscerally reconstruct the family's struggle and to comment on the mores of American culture in the '60s. The result is brilliant, a searing indictment of the nuclear family and a moving tribute to a woman who fought convention.
-Shannon Abel

Co-presented with Rendezvous with Madness Film Festival