Threshold (1981)

Directed by Richard Pearce; produced by Michael Burns and John Slan

Thomas Vrain (Donald Sutherland) is the world’s leading heart surgeon. He saves lives on a daily basis but there are some patients whose conditions worry him, particularly young Carol Severance (Mare Winningham). Vrain operated on Carol years before; her affliction meant, however, that her future was always in doubt. At a medical convention, Vrain meets Aldo Gehring (Jeff Goldblum), who has been working for twelve years to develop an artificial heart. The two doctors labour together, against opinion and time, to give Carol a chance at life.

Threshold has been called science-fiction, which indeed it is. The genre usually includes aliens, space travel, monsters or the like; something that is quite fantastic and often centuries away. Threshold was, when it was made, a mere year ahead of its time. The first artificial heart was implanted in a human in 1982. The timeline makes the film intriguing for much of its story.

That story is more about the people involved in the science than the science itself, and does a good job portraying them, for the most part. Vrain in particular is interesting: he comes across as almost apathetic in the beginning, shaking hands with erstwhile patients and making the most of a publicity event. When he meets Carol years after her surgery, there is the first hint of something more under the blasé exterior. His repeated request that she come see him suggests genuine concern. As the movie progresses, the inference might be made that Vrain is lackadaisical about patients he knows are out of danger, cases that are routine. His reactions to others, such as Carol and the irascible Henry De Vici (Michael Lerner), are different.

But the script lets the film down after the climactic heart-surgery. The writers seem not to know what to do with the story subsequently. The circumstances are such that Vrain and Gehring perform the surgery without explicit permission from their superiors, and the implications are that they will be in trouble over it. While the media circus over the event is well-depicted, the reactions of doctors and administrators simply are left out. We hear nothing about the professional consequences.

As well, Gehring’s character changes from a driven, slightly eccentric nerd (the sort Goldblum would come to specialise in) to an egomaniac. If given more foreshadowing, this may have been convincing; as it is, the change seems to come from nowhere.

Threshold is, though, saved by several factors, primarily the acting. Winningham gives an excellent performance as the frightened but brave young woman, and Sutherland, his character allowed time to develop, also does very well. The direction is quite good. For much of the film, it is standard, but the surgery at the centre of the action is well-handled and tense.

Despite its flaws, which, unfortunately, hurt the final third of the movie, Threshold is an entertaining and involving look at what might very well have been, given slightly different circumstances; science fiction that comes quite close to fact.