The Doctor's Dilemma is a slow burning film. At first, you aren't too sure where the story will go or what the dilemma is, if really there is one, and then you find that you have quickly and eagerly made up your mind as to what you would do in their situation. And then it sinks in: this is a human life placed in this man's hands. There are multiple people who will be affected one way or another. Is his happiness more important than theirs? Where does morality become a hindrance? When does a judgment become a condemnation? Is there truly a correct way to use power?
All of these questions become evident, not when the doctor takes on the case, and not when he finds out that his would-be-patient is a scoundrel and a scum, but when you hear how sincerely the wife of the patient (Played by Leslie Caron) pleads with the doctor to save her husband; the only man she has ever loved; The greatest man she has ever known. Caron's performance alone makes you question what to do. Should her husband be saved simply because she is a worthy woman who deserves happiness? Do you let this man die to free this woman from her trap of a marriage that will only end in her heartbreak?
John Robinson does a fantastic job of loathing the lowly husband and idolizing his martyred wife. You sense his sincere desire to help her but you feel his hatred of her husband. His dilemma is both a moral one and an emotional one and you find that, no matter how he decided, he would have made the wrong decision. A brilliant film. 7.3/10
All of these questions become evident, not when the doctor takes on the case, and not when he finds out that his would-be-patient is a scoundrel and a scum, but when you hear how sincerely the wife of the patient (Played by Leslie Caron) pleads with the doctor to save her husband; the only man she has ever loved; The greatest man she has ever known. Caron's performance alone makes you question what to do. Should her husband be saved simply because she is a worthy woman who deserves happiness? Do you let this man die to free this woman from her trap of a marriage that will only end in her heartbreak?
John Robinson does a fantastic job of loathing the lowly husband and idolizing his martyred wife. You sense his sincere desire to help her but you feel his hatred of her husband. His dilemma is both a moral one and an emotional one and you find that, no matter how he decided, he would have made the wrong decision. A brilliant film. 7.3/10
