‘55 Steps’ Clip: Helena Bonham Carter Is a Mental Patient, and Hilary Swank Wants to Give Her Her Rights
Mental hospitals have always been one of Hollywood’s go-to scary places. They’re full of people who have a shaky sense of reality, and are perfect places to set psychological thrillers like Shutter Island and shows like American Horror Story. But in 55 Steps, the focus is on helping not just one patient, but tons of them, in an adaptation of a true-life story that changed the way mental hospitals in this country operate forever.
55 Steps is the true story of Eleanor Riise (Helena Bonham Carter), a schizophrenic patient inside a mental ward who hired a lawyer (Hilary Swank) to help her negotiate her rights. In the clip above, Swank explains to her that this case would make it so that mental patients wouldn’t be given medication against their will.
Hilary Swank, Helena Bonham Carter, and Jeffrey Tambor star in this fact-based drama about a mentally ill woman fighting the powerful psychiatric establishment for greater self-control, and the lawyer who becomes her champion and friend.
55 Steps is helmed by Danish director and Oscar winner Bille August, and will premiere at this year’s TIFF.