Opium: Diary of a Madwoman

Director Janos Szasz and co-screenwriter Andras Szeker draw inspiration from the unfinished diaries of pioneering Hungarian neurologist Dr. Jozsef Brenner (better known by his pen name Geza Csath) for this grim tale of a drug-addicted doctor and a deeply disturbed mental patient. Dr. Jozsef Brenner (Ulrich Thomsen) is a morphine-addicted medico with a bad case of writer's block. Convinced that he could summon creativity if he could only acquire some morphine, Dr. Brenner travels to a remote asylum for mentally afflicted women claiming that he needs the drugs for a psychoanalytic study. Dr. Brenner's cunning plan hits an unexpected hitch, however, when clinic director Moravcsik (Zsolt Laszlo) voices noticeable disapproval of the hedonistic new arrival's decidedly non-traditional methods. When Dr. Brenner makes the acquaintance of a deeply disturbed patient (Kristi Stubo) who believes her soul has been claimed by the devil, his bizarre attempt to ease the woman's pain while selfishly advancing his own cause proves profoundly unethical yet strangely effective.~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide