Mister Frost

For the episode of The West Wing, see Mr. Frost.

Mister Frost is a 1990 psychological thriller film starring Jeff Goldblum. The film was directed by French filmmaker Philippe Setbon, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Derry Hall, Brad Lynch and Louise Vincent.

Synopsis

A police detective named Felix Detweiler visits the palatial French estate of Mister Frost, whose first name is never given, to investigate a report of a dead body. Frost, with very little prompting, cheerfully admits that he has many bodies buried in his yard.

Frost is arrested and ultimately placed in an asylum, not having spoken a word for two years. During this time the police are unable to establish his identity. The detective leaves his job and becomes obsessed with Frost and the 24 corpses dug up from his garden.

Frost's long silence is broken when he encounters Sarah Day, a doctor at the asylum. Frost refuses to speak with anyone but her, then tells Dr. Day that he is, in fact, Satan. He reveals that he plans to goad her into murdering him.

Detweiler believes it's true that Frost is "the devil himself" and pleads with the doctor to heed his warnings. Day naturally does not accept this, but strange things begin to happen around her and Mr. Frost demonstrates on multiple occasions feats that would be difficult to dismiss as simple sleight of hand tricks. One of these more impressive tricks is when Mr. Frost melts Dr. Day's ring in his bare hands. Day seems impressed at first, but ultimately laughs it off as an impressive parlor trick. The ultimate turning point for Dr. Day is when her brother miraculously regains use of his legs and begins to walk on his own. Day's brother had been confined to a wheel chair for what appears to have been a good portion of his life, due to his visible comfort level in it. Despite this incredible good fortune, Dr. Day is unable to contain her worries. Day was well aware that her brother, due to extensive nerve death, should not have ever been able to regain use of his legs. To find the answer to this miracle, she confronts Mr. Frost who shows he knows all about the recovery despite having no way of knowing.

Soon, Dr. Day notices radically different behavior in her patients and colleagues who begin having increasingly violent outbursts. Gradually, Dr. Day is convinced that Frost is telling the truth. To spare others from harm, she ultimately agrees to kill him.

Cast

• Jeff Goldblum as Mister Frost
• Kathy Baker as Dr. Sarah Day
• Alan Bates as Felix Detweiler
• Jean-Pierre Cassel as Inspector Carelli
• Roland Giraud as Dr. Reynhardt
• Francois Negret as Christopher

Reception

While not a hit, Mister Frost was generally reviewed well and now enjoys something of a cult following. The film has never been released on DVD in the United States, but occasionally appears on television. In Holland, the movie has been released on DVD by official distributor Dutch Film Works, albeit in rather poor video quality.^{[citation needed]}

External links

• Mister Frost at the Internet Movie Database
• Roger Ebert's review
• Dutch Film Works catalogue