Augustine

AUGUSTINE:
After having a violent seizure during while working, kitchen maid Augustine(played by Soko) is sent to a women's hospital. The cause of her seizures is unknown but Dr. Jean-Martin Charcot (played by Vincent Lindon) is determined to find out why Augustine suffers the seizures. Using hypnotism to induce seizures in his patient brings on unexpected results for both him and Augustine. While putting Augustine through the series of tests Dr. Charcot finds that he is becoming interested in his new patient.

BASED ON A TRUE STORY:
This movie was at first one that I wasn't really in the mood to watch because of it being in French with the English subtitles. Sometimes I just don't feel like reading my movies, this was at first one of those nights, but within a few minutes I found that I was fully into this movie. The plot has a good mystery to it where I was being drawn along wondering what was going to happen between Augustine and Dr. Charcot. Not only does this movie have a good plot but it has what I would only guess at being a good wardrobe and close proximity to what people looked like and wore in the late 19th century.

Augustine is a time piece movie where the actions of the characters is what draws along the story of the movie. Sure, the Augustine has a problem that causes her to have seizures that no one can figure out why but it's because of the way the seizures look while a female is having them that causes the reactions of the people around her. Instead of being put into a real hospital for real treatment like she would be today, she is put in a psychiatric hospital that treats female problems. It's a little sad though to think about how women where treated at that time period for being different and it's even brought up that Dr. Charcot didn't want to treat the women like witches because they had some unknown health problem.

There's good acting in this movie, as far as having to watch a movie that I'm reading a lot of it instead of basing how they act on the actors dialog. I'm sure the actors are good, even with the different language and having to read, Soko does a great job at portraying a woman who is having seizures that just seem to happen for no reason at all. Though the story does have some moments that it gets slow the overall flow is still progressive and interesting. I also liked how the movie first made me think about what might be wrong with Augustine but then made me focus on the relationship between her and her doctor. Before I knew the movie was over and I found out that my earlier feelings of not being in the mood for the movie where turned into me liking what I had just watched.