Flying over the cuckoo’s nest (Arte): Was the movie starring Jack Nicholson filmed in a real mental institution?

This is literally a crazy story. The adventure began in 1974 when Michael Douglas and Milos Forman decided to adapt Ken Kesey’s cult novel. Flight over a cuckoo’s nest, published in 1962. To escape prison, troublemaker Randle McMurphy’s character simulates insanity and finds himself imprisoned. Rebelling against the head nurse’s harshness, the dreaded Miss Ratched seeks to radically change the life of the establishment. And he will pay a heavy price.

Marlon Brando was approached to play McMurphy. He sharply refuses. It is not possible to participate “crazy movie!” Michael Douglas then offers the role to the impetuous Jack Nicholson. However, if Milos Forman agrees to undertake this project, there is only one condition: to apply to a real psychiatric asylum with the participation of patients. He was admitted to hospitals in the United States for a year. But the directors reject it when they read the script, which makes the psychiatrists uncomfortable. The miracle happened in December 1974: Dean Brooks, head of the Salem (Oregon) unit, agreed to let the team settle inside the walls for three months. A follower of avant-garde therapies and a great cinephile, Brooks is in love with the character of McMurphy. On the other hand, he denounces the vulgar side of the script that sends him a false image of psychiatry.

“You’re right, Reply to Milos Forman. Remake the dialogues and come on set as a technical consultant… and as an actor in your own role as the director!” Brooks accepts the challenge. 85 Salem offers to return her patient: “Acting will be great therapy for them because they will feel thought through and empowered.” Filming can begin, and the actors interpreting the detainees work surrounded by more real-to-life patients who take their roles very seriously. Those most severely affected are assigned to technical posts. Thus, a dangerous arsonist is given gas cans to charge the generators. Good therapy: It works without the slightest problem…

As the days pass, a permissive air enters the set. Players sleep in padded cells while the psychotics do water battles in the corridors. Over-excited Jack Nicholson pranks the “crazy” who pranks the impressive Indian chief actor Will Sampson. Not so crazy Milos Forman does not lose sight of this irresistible collective delirium. At the end of the shooting, good friendship bonds were formed between the actors and the patients. And when Milos Forman and Jack Nicholson leave Salem, the detainees tearfully turn to Dr. Under the affectionate gaze of Dean Brooks, they make them a guard of honor. Human, very human.

Flight over the cuckoo’s nest: Monday, August 1 at 20:55 Arte

Jean-Baptiste Drouet