As the film opens, George Anderson tells us he has been
advised to treat his anxiety by going “to some island to rest.” We see him
arrive by ferry in Staten Island where he has arranged to spend several weeks
at the beautiful home of his father’s best friend. There, he renews his friendship with the friend’s
daughter, Maggie. We discover that
George, a filmmaker, dropped out of medical school, and that Maggie is now a
doctor. We learn from the start that, though
they have not seen each other for ten years, there is a longstanding mutual
romantic attraction.
One day, while walking around the house’s lush gardens,
George suddenly and improbably sees a monk.
We are made to understand this is not the first time this has occurred,
although at this stage George still recognizes it as a “mirage.” However, when
the monk foretells a “grand brilliant future” for George and entrusts him with
a divine mission, George is inspired. He
becomes obsessed with attending church, and we learn he has not been sleeping. In his religious fervor he calls Maggie “disgusting”
because she performs abortions.
Maggie becomes aware that something is not quite right. We learn too that George enlisted in the army
and resigned under suspicious circumstances. Other details about his past are
mysterious. The relationship between
George and Maggie intensifies. Meanwhile, a friend warns Maggie that she has witnessed
George saying peculiar things about a monk and smiling inappropriately. Finally, in Maggie’s bedroom, George has a full-fledged
psychotic episode as he hallucinates the monk in front of her. She accuses him of “becoming schizophrenic,”
and begs him to see a psychiatrist. He
responds by accusing her of trying to drain him of his inspiration, packs up
his belongings, and, despite her entreaties, leaves.
