At 42 years of age, actress Natasha Richardson is still attractive
enough (in that pale, untouchable British way) to warm the loins
of some of you high-brow lesbians.

In Asylum, a film set in 1950s England, she plays the
brooding wife of a stuffy supervisor of a mental asylum. Bored with
her existence, she embarks on a reckless affair with one of the
inmates — a demonic-looking ex-sculptor (Marton Csokas) who
had decapitated his wife in a jealous rage.

Is she loony? Yes, but so would a lot of characters be in a film
called Asylum. Though the script by Patrick Marber (who
wrote the excellent Closer) is filled with witty barbs,
the plot is somewhat loony — oops, there's that word again.

Still, there? no denying the sizzling chemistry between Natasha
and the lunatic. There is also a fine performance by the ever-reliable
queer Ian McKellen as a manipulative head psychiatrist.

Should you watch this movie? Only if you've always wanted to know
what life might be like in a loony bin in 1950s England. No? We
thought so.