Coma

Half a decade after the excellent “Westworld” (1973), renowned novelist Michael Crichton writes and directs a taut medical thriller based on the novel by physician Robin Cook. The result is once again surprising, and demonstrates yet again his fine talent as a director, particularly when it comes to building suspense.

The sterile, frigid hospital environment depicted by Crichton (a Harvard medical school graduate) is anything but welcoming. A barrage of specialized medical jargon that’s as suffocating as it is one-track, conveys a feeling of uneasiness right from the start. It’s an atmosphere rife with clandestine economic and political undercurrents, making it a dangerous place to snoop around in.

The protagonist’s stubborn persistence to get to the bottom of an extremely inconvenient matter (to uncover the truth, a feisty Geneviève Bujold is prepared to poke around ventilation ducts and labyrinthine basements), combined with the claustrophobic vicissitudes she runs up against, contribute to building a crescendo of tension and menace that peaks with the shocking sequence of their foray into the Jefferson Institute.

The director also doesn’t pass up the opportunity to rehash one of his pet themes, that is the risks associated with the whirlwind pace of technological development within a company based on ever-closer, ever-stronger man-machine symbiosis (“Every one of our patients is individually monitored by the computer. […] With the assistance of technology these patients are maintained beautifully“).

Worthy cast: in addition to the excellent performance by the above-mentioned Bujold, we find an icy Richard Widmark as well as a vile Elizabeth Ashley in the role of the diabolical nurse (the scene when she’s running the organ auction elicits shivers). Michael Douglas is kept on a short leash for once, making do with a supporting role. Cameos by Tom Selleck (the architect with the leg injury) and Ed Harris (morgue pathologist).