Circle_of_Power

<i>Circle of Power</i>

Circle of Power

1983 film by Bobby Roth

Circle of Power, also known as Mystique, Brainwash and The Naked Weekend, is a 1981 drama thriller film, co-produced by Gary Mehlman, Anthony Quinn and Jeffrey White, and based on the nonfiction book The Pit: A Group Encounter Defiled. It stars Yvette Mimieux in one of her final film performances.

Quick Facts Circle of Power, Directed by ...

Plot

Bianca Ray is the chief executive of a giant corporation called "Mystique". The organization is also known as "Executive Development Training", or EDT.[1] Jack Nilsson is a decent all-American young executive.[2]

Top management executives are required to spend a weekend with Bianca at a hotel, where they are put under psychological pressure.[3] As a prerequisite to the training course, participants must sign a waiver giving the company the release to physically and psychologically abuse the individuals in the course.[2] The participants struggle with their shortcomings, such as obesity and alcoholism.[2] Another individual is a closeted homosexual, and a fourth is a transvestite.[1] At one point in the film, the obese trainee is forced to eat trash and discarded food in front of the other seminar participants.[1] Eventually, the seminar executives and their wives lose their inhibitions later on in the "consciousness-raising" coursework.[4]

Cast

Reception

The film won a Dramatic Films Award at the 1982 Sundance Film Festival (then called the U.S. Film Festival).[5] Circle of Power played under the title Mystique at the 1981 Chicago International Film Festival.[3]

A review in The New York Times described Circle of Power as an "attack on monolithic belief systems," and referred to it as "a worthwhile movie."[2] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three out of four stars, writing that "...it's an entertaining film with serious intentions." Ebert compared it to events reported in Boston newspapers about a man who died during a seminar, commenting: "Art anticipates life." Ebert questioned the conceit of the film, asking the question: "Could a major corporation get away with this brainwashing?"[3] The authors of the book upon which the film was based concluded their preface by stating: "And please remember as you read -- it's true."[6]

See also

References

  1. [1]
    Erickson, Hal. "Circle of Power". AllMovie. Archived from the original on July 12, 2009. Retrieved April 20, 2007.
  2. [2]
    Van Gelder, Lawrence (March 2, 1984). "Screen: Corporate Pressure". The New York Times.
  3. [3]
    Ebert, Roger (September 28, 1983). "Naked Weekend / Mystique". Chicago Sun-Times.
  4. [4]
    "Showtime: Circle of Power". The Chronicle Telegram. Elyria, Ohio. June 2, 1984.
  5. [5]
    Bowman, Lisa Marie (January 20, 2018). "Sundance Film Review: Circle of Power (dir by Bobby Roth)". Through the Shattered Lens. Retrieved September 12, 2023.
  6. [6]
    Church, Gene; Conrad D. Carnes (1972). The Pit: A Group Encounter Defiled. New York: Outerbridge & Lazard, Inc. p. 161. ISBN 0-87690-087-2.
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