Home » Movies » All the Rest » TIFF 2022 Review: FIXATION
Posted by Melody McCune | Sep 14, 2022 | All the Rest, Movies, Reviews, Stuff We Like | 0
DISCLAIMER: Mild spoilers abound for Mercedes Bryce Morgan’s feature debut, Fixation.
We’ve reached the halfway point of this year’s Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), and, as usual, critics bear witness to a crop of films that are truly the landmark of innovative cinema. Bold, daring filmmakers bring fresh cinematic blood to the table, keeping viewers buzzing with excitement as awards season ramps up.
Enter, Fixation — a heady, surreal feature spanning genres; sometimes teetering toward psychological thriller, other times fixating on murder mystery. Mercedes Bryce Morgan is at the helm with a script from William Day Frank. Maddie Hasson stars as Dora.
Dora is a young woman kept under lock and key at a psychiatric hospital for a crime she can’t remember committing. With her sentencing looming, her doctors perform a series of peculiar evaluations and experiments to help Dora uncover the truth. They even recreate fragments of Dora’s most traumatic memories. As Dora tumbles down the rabbit hole of her mind, and each test gets increasingly more horrific, she wonders if her doctors (or captors) have her best interests at heart. Reality and fantasy, past and present, coalesce.
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To say Morgan’s feature directorial debut is jarring would be an understatement. To say it’s bewildering would also be an understatement. At the film’s opening, we’re thrown instantly into the action with no room to breathe. However, the immediate confusion keeps us invested; the writing plants enough seeds of intrigue to pique our desire to know more.
Hasson is mesmerizing as Dora. She’s a force of nature. Hasson nimbly weaves between various emotional states. One moment, she’s fragile as glass, and your heart bleeds for her. The next moment, she’s a tsunami of anger, screaming till she’s hoarse, and you’re angry alongside her. Dora’s explosive turns never feel over the top. The heightened circumstances make her reactions all too real and understandable.
Supporting Hasson is Genesis Rodriguez as Dr. Melanie, Atticus Mitchell as Griffin and Stephen McHattie as the enigmatic Dr. Clarke. Each of the above provides solid performances, given what they have to work with, notably Rodriguez, who injects Dr. Melanie with nuance and empathy. However, there’s no question whose movie this is.
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Fixation feels like a macabre version of Alice in Wonderland when it departs reality. That’s thanks to Lucas Gentilcore’s sensational production design, whose work immerses us in Dora’s memories. Keep your eyes peeled on the background, as Gentilcore adds plenty of Easter eggs from previous scenes, items that contribute to the unraveling mystery. Oren Soffer’s camerawork keeps things fresh with varied angles, from uncomfortable, tight close-ups to darkly beautiful wide shots. The film doesn’t skimp on the visual aspects of the story.
Pictured: Maddie Hasson as Dora in FIXATION
As for prevalent themes, Fixation hones in on medical gaslighting through a patriarchal lens. Throughout the film, Dora tries to explain her doubts regarding her doctors’ unorthodox methods, declaring these recreations of her past are too painful to endure. Unfortunately, said doctors incessantly ignore her, brushing off her concerns. The movie also explores trauma and how we process it, as Dr. Clarke claims his memory reconstructions are revolutionary in his field.
While part of healing from trauma is working through it, Dora doesn’t consent to what’s done to her. That’s where Fixation shines a light on consent, especially as those in power nonchalantly manipulate the powerless.
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The film conveys this thematic exploration successfully, even amid the sometimes head-scratching narrative. Dora might have committed the crime of which she’s accused. However, she’s a victim of childhood abuse and trauma, someone who’s abandoned to her own devices despite what her doctors claim.
Not to worry, there’s a somewhat hopeful ending for Dora. That said, we’re still left wondering what’s real and what’s not. We never see the results of her purported sentencing. The movie simply … ends. I’m usually not a fan of abrupt endings; however, I think they’re sometimes warranted. This conclusion is fitting for a film like Fixation.
There’s not much narrative weight to Fixation, as Maddie Hasson carries the story on her shoulders. Through her, we try to comprehend what’s unfolding before us. While the themes are present, the cinematography is solid and the acting is top-notch, the plot feels flimsy, often faltering under the heft of all the filmmaking accouterments.
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We don’t know Dora, nor do we truly understand her by the film’s end. Fixation doesn’t give us enough time with these characters, instead throwing us headlong into a mystifying plot with mind-bending visuals and gore. We only find ourselves rooting for Dora because of what she endures, but not from a place of knowing her.
Overall, Fixation is a visceral psychological thriller that will require multiple viewings to comprehend. It’s unflinching in its dissection of medical gaslighting, trauma and abuse. Maddie Hasson is magnetic, catapulting the film forward even when the plot struggles to keep up.
Fixation is currently playing at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Contact: Melody.McCune@geekgirlauthority.comWhat I do: I'm Managing Editor, Senior Contributor, and Press Coordinator. I manage, contribute, and coordinate. Sometimes all at once. Joking aside, I oversee day-to-day operations for GGA, write, edit, and assess interview opportunities/press events.Who I am: Before moving to Los Angeles after studying theater in college, I was born and raised in Amish country, Ohio. No, I am not Amish, even if I sometimes sport a modest bonnet. Bylines in: Culturess, Sideshow Collectibles, inkMend on Medium. I love cheese. I love geek. I love lamp.
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