Review – Lilith

This is one of those wretched productions endemic to the 60s and 70s that conflate “profound” and “ponderous.” Warren Beatty plays a new hire at an insane asylum for patients from wealthy families. Ever so slowly he sinks into a torrid affair with an attractive female patient. Most of the drama depends in one way or another on her quirky behavior and his stiff efforts to cope with it. The production also supplies Beatty with copious opportunities to perfect that hallmark of his acting career: the vacant stare that he must think makes him look intense but in fact suggests nothing but rock-headed stupidity. Nor is he alone in this particular school of the performing arts. There’s more vacant staring in this than in a movie that’s actually about vacant staring. Some of the cinematography is solid, and the story tackles some controversial issues – such as bisexuality – albeit in an exploitative way. Otherwise it’s a Beatty vehicle that doesn’t go anywhere. See if desperate