David Denby

“It's a shame the movie is so bad, because Kathleen Quinlan is a very strong young actress. Few performers have the ability to project intelligence, so Quinlan's triumph here is unusual: she's quick and decisive and at the same time so wretchedly unhappy that you become persuaded of the romantic notion that misery is being young and brilliant with nothing to do with your perceptions and feelings. Quinlan alone saves the movie from total inanity: in her sessions with the analyst (a maternal Bibi Andersson does her best with dull material) there's lots of pain, but she's also sulky, naughty, flirtatious. We're captivated by the notion that psychosis expresses distorted sexual energies. The other actresses, desperate to make an impression, may be working up a routine, but Quinlan gives a full-scale performance.”

David Denby
New York, August 16, 1977