The Other Side of the Underneath

In 1970, Arden formed the women’s theatre group Holocaust, whose first performance piece, A New Communion For Freaks, Prophets And Witches, would form the basis of this film – not only Arden’s sole film as director, but also the only British film of the 1970s solely directed by a woman. Arden was also becoming more aligned with the antipsychiatry movement of the time, which sought to remove the social stigma of mental illness and accord patients more autonomy in treatment decisions. An unnamed woman (Susanka Fraey) is pulled unconscious from a lake and rushed to a psychiatric hospital. The group therapy sessions that follow devolve into visceral, disturbing imagery depicting the participants’ various mental states, all overseen by an authoritarian psychiatrist (Arden). The experience of filming proved so harrowing that it caused the break-up of Holocaust immediately upon the film’s completion.