Crazy Love

Love is the Cure. Laughter is the medicine.

Crazy Love is a heart-breaking and hilarious romantic drama set in a Dublin psychiatric hospital. An Irish “One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest”.

John Connors gives the performance of a lifetime as suicidal man Clayton, who falls in love with a schizophrenic patient, Anna, who can never leave.

After a failed suicide attempt, Clayton, checks himself into a private mental hospital. During a family visit Clayton smashes his head through a glass table. He is sedated under orders of the head psychiatrist Dr Bracken. Clayton is sitting in the recreation room, head bandaged, drooling and tranquillised. Anna appears, dancing through the room with white Lily’s. She drops one at Clayton’s feet. He fights the effects of the sedation and clenches it between his teeth.

Clayton is haunted by the memory of the flower girl, unsure if she exists. Anna appears in the rec room the next day and Clayton is instantly mesmerised. Anna invites him to go on an ice cream heist with her. As they sneak into the kitchen they come across Mark, who gives Clayton earplugs and a Leopardskin Jasper stone. Clayton’s spirits are lifted. Anna paints his portrait. Clayton asks if she’s ever had any boyfriends, she hasn’t. Clayton’s friends Benny and Kenny dress him up for a date with Anna. As Clayton and Anna walk through the grounds together, Dr Bracken sees them. Anna kisses Clayton in an act of defiance. Clayton and Anna steal ice cream again, but this time Dr Bracken catches them and sedates Anna.

Dr Bracken, who confronts Clayton with the reality that Anna can never leave the hospital, and her condition raises concerns about her capacity to consent. Clayton storms out. Clayton wanders the hospital corridors holding Anna’s flower. Her sudden disappearance troubles him. He calls on Benny, who says… ““when Anna’s monster comes for her, she has to run and hide.” For the first time, Clayton fully understands the seriousness of Anna’s condition, and resolves to find her.

Dr Bracken and Dr Amin are in a board meeting with the Executive Chairman. When he discovers that Clayton and Anna have been having an intimate relationship, he decides “to kill two birds with one stone” and send Clayton home.

Clayton goes home. After a microwave dinner with his family he goes upstairs to the bathroom he attempted suicide in at the start of the film. He stares at his reflection and recalls (or dreams) a scene in which Anna asks him “are you afraid of falling in love? Or are you afraid of falling in love with me?” Clayton professes his love to Anna and they resolve to escape together.

Benny and Kenny ambush Dr Bracken in the hospital, rob his keys and help Clayton and Anna break out. Clayton and Anna steal a motorbike and side-car and ride off to start their new life together.

“… a beautiful and poignant romantic drama set in a psychiatric hospital” Film Verdict

“… a searing examination of the… tendency to dehumanize those suffering from mental health issues” Hollywood Reporter