This film is part of Rentals

Mad to Be Normal 15 rating

David Tennant is inspired as the renegade Scottish psychiatrist R.D. Laing, whose unorthodox therapeutic ideas chime with the radical spirit of 1960s counterculture.

Drama 2016 105 mins

Director: Robert Mullan

Watch trailer Rent for £3.50

Overview

David Tennant is inspired as R.D. Laing, the renegade Scottish psychiatrist whose radical ideas on mental illness outraged the 1960s medical establishment. Robert Mullan's unshackled biopic focuses on Laing's establishment of Kingsley Hall therapy centre in East London, where schizophrenics are encouraged to talk through their experiences and LSD is the preferred prescription.

As Kingsley Hall becomes the epicentre of Laing's ideas around freedom, its libertarian ethos seems to chime perfectly with the counterculture climate of 1960s Britain. But the more immersed he becomes in the project, the more his personal life begins to deteriorate. Tennant is exceptional playing a very different doctor to the one with which he made his name, but a character just as singularly memorable. And Laing's story is further brought to life by a series of excellent supporting turns from Elisabeth Moss, Michael Gambon and Gabriel Byrne as the doctor's acolytes and patients.

Director
Robert Mullan
Featuring
David TennantElisabeth MossMichael GambonGabriel Byrne
Genres
DramaBiopic
Certificate
15strong language, drug misuse, sex, scenes of suicide and self-harm
Released
2016
Country
United Kingdom
Language
English