Based on a true story, Three Christs is an interesting character drama. After encountering three mental patients who each believe that they are Jesus Christ, psychiatrist Dr. Alan Stone puts them into a therapy group and attempts a new kind of treatment. Starring Richard Gere, Peter Dinklage, Bradley Whitford, and Walton Goggins, the film has a pretty good cast that delivers some strong performances. However, the plot is rather formulaic and leaves things a bit ambiguous and unresolved. Yet storytelling issues aside, Three Christs is entertaining and has some compelling drama.
I didn't know what to expect when beginning this movie. From the cover image, I partly suspected a crass and offensive comedy. Having seen it, I now know is based on a true story, and fittingly, not a comedy at all. It's an exploration of mental illness, with a real-life story as the basis. Is it a good film? Kinda. It could have been better - it was manipulative at times, as well as a little rushed - but it still has some power, and it is well-acted.
Too-clever-by-half with a terribly terrible script all rife with pretention and pseudointellectualism and cast a beautiful—though squandered—all-star cast. Heresy and sacrilege is nothing compared to this overwritten purple offence to cinema.
I knew from the beginning that none of them was the real Jesus! Seriously, it was boring because they didn't manage to show the real psychology behind the delusion. Many left opportunities here and what's left is a mediocre story about a compassionate doctor and a friendship that made their illness bearable. Nothing worthwhile and no deeper message.
Shout by DeletedBlockedParent2020-01-11T17:48:43Z
Three Christs begins by listing four barbarous techniques used on psychiatric patients in the 1950s and then introduces its protagonist, who has a battered face and is preparing for a disciplinary hearing. This introduction appears to forecast a rough series of flashbacks for both the viewers and Dr. Alan Stone (Richard Gere). Ultimately, though, the movie goes too easy on us and him.
In 1959, Michigan's state mental hospitals did actually hold three men who believed themselves to be Jesus. Social psychologist Milton Rokeach decided to treat them together, and later wrote a book, The Three Christs of Ypsilanti. Rokeach is the basis for the fictionalized Stone, and his book inspired the movie's glib and often clunky screenplay, written by Eric Nazarian and director Jon Avnet.
Three Christs benefits from a seasoned cast. Peter Dinklage, Walton Goggins, and Bradley Whitford clearly relish the acting exercise of impersonating people with schizophrenia. Charlotte Hope is also compelling as Becky, the recent psychology graduate who signs on as Stone's research assistant and stirs the erotic impulses of all three patients (and maybe her new boss, too).