Les patients de Mademoiselle Evers

Original title: Miss Evers' Boys

TV Movie
1997
PG
1h 58m

IMDb RATING

YOUR RATING

Laurence Fishburne and Alfre Woodard in Les patients de Mademoiselle Evers (1997)

The true story of the U.S. Government's 1932 Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment, in which a group of black test subjects were allowed to die, despite a cure having been developed.The true story of the U.S. Government's 1932 Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment, in which a group of black test subjects were allowed to die, despite a cure having been developed.The true story of the U.S. Government's 1932 Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment, in which a group of black test subjects were allowed to die, despite a cure having been developed.

Director
- Joseph Sargent
Writers
- David Feldshuh
- Walter Bernstein
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.1/10

1.5K

YOUR RATING

Director
- Joseph Sargent
Writers
- David Feldshuh
- Walter Bernstein
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

Won 5 Primetime Emmys
- 17 wins & 16 nominations total

Photos57

User reviews18

7.11.5K

Featured reviews

9planktonrules

Wonderful but incredibly sad

I have seen this film several times and use it as a teaching aid when I teach my high school psychology class, as it brings up issues concerning unethical treatment as well as brain disorders (in this case syphilis). The film is VERY moving and you can't help but get absorbed into the film due to its excellent writing and characterizations. About the only reason the film doesn't merit a 10 is that the background for the movie is vague and I needed to research on my own. I found that the movie was based on a play which was a fictionalized account of a true study done in the Southern US. Like the real case, the participants were lied to and told they were getting treatment. As a result, most died a long and horrible death due to a slow disintegration of the brain. The character of Miss Evers, by the way, was fictional as were the names of the other participants. However, despite this, this in no way minimizes the horror of the real-life tale. This is a sad and moving must-see film.

10twinklevango

Response to "Pure Propaganda for the Ignorant"

I went to the "Spiked" website and read the article mentioned in the previous post. That article is a fancy bit of rationalization. The bottom line is you don't promise anyone hope in the face of possible death when that hope was nothing more than a lie to begin with. That is the heart and soul of why this movie is so important. It does expose a terrible lie perpetrated upon unsuspecting people. If they had been told the truth, it would have been morally different. In fact, the eventual monetary compensation the men and families received was too small for a lifetime of hopes and deception.

The article on "Spiked" only made me appreciate the movie and the excellent acting all that much more.

The acting was powerful, and it looked like a labor of love. I think everyone involved with this film must have felt the weight of purpose for getting out the truth of what had happened. It is one of the best acted, most well written movies ever and I encourage people to see it.

7stamper

A film about science, well how INTERESTING!

First of all, I must say that this was one of the best TV movies I've ever seen. Not only were there quality actors (Alfre Woodard, Laurence Fishburn, Joe Morton), but the people involved succeeded in making this an honest drama and not one where the schmaltz comes dripping out of your screen. As for the film itself I must say that all the cast and crew were great and I had no complaints about the film, but one. I really missed that sarcastic edge in the end. I mean, if I was a director I would have blacked out the screen in the end and would have inserted the conclusion of the experiment there. You know a black screen with something like: Compared to whites, blacks do not react differently to syphilis.' taken from and so on. I would have really liked that, because I (as a first year psychology student) have read about a lot of experiments even now, some of which were morally more acceptable than others, but never in my life have I read something as terrible as this. Do not get me wrong, I understood the intention at the beginning of the experiment, but I think it was unhuman to go along with it. Even if some men had died from getting pene - something (an anti biotic), it would have been better than the terrible death they faced through syphilis. But what about science you ask? Screw the data!

7 out of 10

10Bliggle

Excellent Movie

Wow!! What a real eye-opener!! I had to watch this movie for a medical bioethics class and I really learned a lot from watching it. I thought the way things were presented were done quite well. It really showed me how cruel things were back in that time frame and opened my eyes to watch things around me in the present. What a shame that this event took place. How unfair it was to these poor men and their families. It makes me appreciate even more the stand that people take on behalf of others.

I have to commend Miss Evers' for her dedication to these men and all that she tried to do to help them regardless of the consequences. It is too sad that she was not able to do more. As far as Dr. Brodus and the other Dr. goes, it is a shame that they were coerced into thinking that in just 6 mos to a year the funds would become available to give real treatment to these men.

At the end, when there were so few men left alive, I am grateful that they were compensated somewhat for the suffering they had to endure. At the same time, it saddens me that so many had to die from this horrible disease to begin with even when the medication became available.

My condolences to the families for sure and my gratitude to the AP for bringing this to the forefront.

nicholas.rhodes

Bland

I bought this together with "A Lesson Before Dying" by the same director and whilst I found the latter well-filmed, engrossing and very good on character analysis, I found Miss Evers' Boys to be a bit of a disappointment. You don't really get taken up into the story. Picture quality is hazy and fuzzy and you end up wondering really where Miss Evers was going in life ........... nowhere ! When you read the synopsis, you think you're in for a good, emotional, heart-rending story. However, that is not the impression which was conveyed to me. Miss Evers' even refuses romance, which could have been a saving grace. Why didn't she subtilise more penicillin if she was so concerned ? I tend to like these "racial" dramas, even though they are over-romanticized, but this one left me pretty near cold !

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Storyline

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Quotes
Dr. Douglas: [addressing a waiting room full of patients] Gentlemen, there seems to be some confusion. Let me explain what we're checking for. There is a germ that infects the genital area, resulting in a temporary and painless but highly contagious penile ulceration. Now, this ulceration will disappear as the disease becomes non-contagious, or latent. And this latency can last for up to 30 years until finally the cardiovascular and nervous systems will disintegrate and collapse. Are there any questions?
Eunice Evers, R.N.: [Seeing the bewildered silence of the patients] Doctor, could I just say something?
Dr. Douglas: Sure.
Eunice Evers, R.N.: By frolicking too much, or maybe passed on from your mama and your daddy, you might get a really bad sore down below on your private parts. Then through that sore a bug can crawl up inside of you and go to sleep for twenty, thirty years or more, so as not to hurt nobody but you. But when it wake up, you can't walk, you can't breathe, you can't think. That is bad blood. That's what we're checking to see if y'all got, so we can get rid of it.
[Chorus of "Ah!" and smiles from the patients]
Dr. Douglas: Nurse, could I speak with you for a second?
Eunice Evers, R.N.: Sure.
[They both walk into a private room]
Dr. Douglas: Thank you. I know I'm a good medical doctor, but I'm not so sure that I'm a good people doctor yet.
Eunice Evers, R.N.: Dr. Douglas, you're helping people. You're a good people doctor.

Alternate versions
Final title cards at the end of the film differ in at least 2 versions. Version #1 No one connected with the study was ever charged or disciplined. The debate over human experimentation in America continues today. In Version #2 on HBO NOW differs slightly: No one connected with the study was ever charged or disciplined. On May 16, 1997, President Clinton offered the Tuskegee survivors the government's first formal apology: "We can finally say on behalf of the American people, what the United States did was shameful, and I am sorry."