YVETTE MIMIEUX LEADING 'BRAINWASH' AKA 'CIRCLE OF POWER'

Yvette Mimieux in BRAINWASH/CIRCLE OF POWER Year: 1981 Rating: ****

Mostly known by the far more dramatic title CIRCLE OF POWER — which probably made the video rental more of a shelf-grabber or else the original title that somehow had to be changede — this early-80's cult curio now genuinely titled (on the opening credits) BRAINWASH is based on the previous decade's self-help Erhard Seminars Training aka EST, where a group of participants are stuck inside a room, sometimes for days, without even a bathroom, under intense scrutiny by a charismatic leader for individual inner-self discovery, or something...

But in the Reagan-era, Hollywood saw fit to make Yvette Mimieux's gorgeous forty-something Bianca Ray a corporate tycoon (owner of a gigantic advertising firm) rather than hippie-guru, programming a handful of married couples not into personal-fulfillment but to become high-paid executives, and, halfway through... in a televised interview the group watches during a much needed break... she mentions how the current American leader wants her in his cabinet...

Walter Olkewicz and Tony Plana in BRAINWASH with Hugh Gillan

Her program separating husbands and wives into mostly vacant rooms except chairs in a semi-circle (hence the original title) where the empty space in-between's called The Pit: first working on an extremely overweight Walter Olkewicz, who goes through more of a mental and physical ringer (fully nude and thrown into a cage) than anyone else... then intensely bonding with Yvette while some of the other men's conversions occur in a rushed montage...

All leading to the film's central heroes in married-couple Christopher Allport — who Mimieux partially seduces in a standout sequence after questioning why his mousy-cute, put-upon yet surprisingly and surreptitiously assertive wife Cindy Pickett was abused in her own group (by swarthy co-leader John Considine, who really does a job on Carmen Argenziano's sexy wife Mary McCusker)...

Cindy Pickett and Christopher Allport in BRAINWASH

Meanwhile his male cohorts, including Tony Plana, Scott Marlowe, Hugh Gillen and Leo Rossi... bullied not only by Yvette but muscular henchman Denny Miller (and Terence Knox)... eventually become rabid followers, ferociously set against the doubtful Allport in a suspenseful exploitation that ultimately seems like half a movie, and, with a group of black employees providing passive roman chorus outside the beatings, the compound isn't as ominous (or claustrophobic) to make this edgy psychological drama an all-out uncompromising thriller...

So other than some nudity and swearing, BRAINWASH/CIRCLE OF FEAR feels more like an no-holds made-for-television movie than a toned-down theatrical feature and yet, either way, Yvette Mimieux hasn't looked this fantastic since the 1960's, trading in her horrendously Plain-Jane BLACK HOLE perm-haircut with her (signature) flowing blonde mane... while her steely performance could have warranted a Best Actress Oscar — with Walter Olkewicz and Mary McCusker much-deserved Supporting nods and Allport the male lead. 

Yvette Mimieux in CIRCLE OF POWER originally BRAINWASH

Cindy Pickett in BRAINWASH

Yvette Mimieux in CIRCLE OF POWER originally BRAINWASH

Yvette Mimieux in CIRCLE OF POWER aka BRAINWASH with Denny Miller

Cindy Pickett in CIRCLE OF POWER originally BRAINWASH

Yvette Mimieux in CIRCLE OF POWER originally BRAINWASH

Tony Plana, Leo Rossi and Christopher Allport in BRAINWASH

Yvette Mimieux in CIRCLE OF POWER with Denny Miller and Terence Knox

Christopher Allport, Hugh Gillan, Tony Plana andWalter Olkewicz in BRAINWASH

Yvette Mimieux in CIRCLE OF POWER originally BRAINWASH

Cindy Pickett in BRAINWASH with Denny Miller

Yvette Mimieux in CIRCLE OF POWER originally BRAINWASH

Yvette Mimieux in CIRCLE OF POWER originally BRAINWASH

Cindy Pickett in BRAINWASH

Opening Credit proof of CIRCLE OF POWER actually titled BRAINWASH

Opening Credit proof of CIRCLE OF POWER actually titled BRAINWASH

Opening Credit proof of CIRCLE OF POWER actually titled BRAINWASH

Opening Credit proof of CIRCLE OF POWER actually titled BRAINWASH

Opening Credit proof of CIRCLE OF POWER actually titled BRAINWASH

Credit for CIRCLE OF POWER of powerful lead Yvette Mimieux

Yvette Mimieux in BRAINWASH/Circle of Power

Yvette Mimieux in BRAINWASH

Yvette Mimieux in BRAINWASH

Mary McCusker in BRAINWASH

Walter Olkewicz and Yvette Mimieux in BRAINWASH with Denny Miller and Terence Knox

John Considine in BRAINWASH

Henry G. Sanders in BRAINWASH

Mary McCusker in CIRCLE OF POWER/BRAINWASH

Mary McCusker in CIRCLE OF POWER/BRAINWASH

Mary McCusker in CIRCLE OF POWER/BRAINWASH

Mary McCusker in CIRCLE OF POWER/BRAINWASH with Carmen Argenziano

Mary McCusker in CIRCLE OF POWER/BRAINWASH with Carmen Argenziano

Mary McCusker in CIRCLE OF POWER/BRAINWASH with Carmen Argenziano

Mary McCusker in CIRCLE OF POWER/BRAINWASH with Carmen Argenziano

Christopher Allport n CIRCLE OF POWER/BRAINWASH with Yvette Mimieux