Escaping the Madhouse: The Nellie Bly Story (2019)
This week, I wanted to challenge myself to find a film written and directed by a woman that I hadn’t heard of before. So, I went down a rabbit hole and landed on Escaping the Madhouse: The Nellie Bly Story. As a fan of historical fiction — think Titanic, The Painted Veil, Pearl Harbor, Marie Antoinette — I usually gravitate toward romance. But this time, I was in the mood for a psychological thriller.
The film centers around Nellie Bly, the first journalist to go undercover in a mental health facility to expose the crimes being committed inside. Blackwell’s Asylum was notorious — patients were admitted, but none ever seemed to be released. The public had no idea what was truly happening inside, so Elizabeth Jane Cochran took on the alias of Nellie Bly, feigned insanity, and had herself committed to uncover the truth.
Escaping the Madhouse: The Nellie Bly Story was a bit of slow burn for me. It wasn’t exactly what I expected, but I wasn’t disappointed. Going into the film, I thought I knew how the story would be structured. But I was thrown when Nellie herself doesn’t know who she is. I found myself just as confused as she was. Set in New York in 1887 at Blackwell’s Asylum, the film quickly establishes the power dynamics between staff, doctors, and patients. Nellie is sharp-witted and clearly educated, yet no one—including herself—knows her true identity. To make matters worse, no friends or family come looking for her at first, further isolating her in an institution that prioritizes control over care.
Funding plays a crucial role in how the asylum is managed. Matron Grady hints at this when she meets the new doctor for the asylum, Dr. Josiah. Throughout the film, the head nurse, Matron Grady, frequently emphasizes that with only three nurses on staff, strict rules must be followed to maintain order and protect the women from illness. However, these regulations come at the expense of the patients’ physical and mental well-being. For example, the women are required to wear shackled shoes, which are often too tight, leading to circulation loss, bruised shins, and constant discomfort. Since the facility is severely understaffed, adjustments are never made — Grady justifies this by saying, “if one person gets it, then everyone will want it,” reinforcing a system where efficiency outweighs individual care.
Although this film is set in the past, this kind of thinking still exists in modern institutions and workplaces. Watching a story about a woman in the 19th century through a 21st-century lens, I couldn’t help but feel a degree of sympathy for Matron Grady. She has been placed in an impossible situation — expected to maintain order under strict guidelines while receiving little recognition from her superiors, who dismiss her efforts simply because she is not a doctor. One of her greatest faults is that she never questions the system; instead, she replicates the workflows of her peers without challenging their effectiveness. Her experience and authority as head nurse are overshadowed by institutional hierarchy.
How frustrating! At times, I found myself relating a bit too much to Matron Grady. While watching The White Lotus Season 3, a line stood out to me — something along the lines of the pursuit of continuous learning and curiosity is more valuable than aiming to possess all knowledge. I think this is exactly what Matron Grady lacks. Rather than questioning whether the systems she enforces truly serve the women in her care, she assumes that following the rules is enough. Maybe she fears pushing back against her superiors, worried about the consequences of challenging authority. But blind adherence to rules is no substitute for curiosity, growth, and critical thinking.
Of the three nurses working at the asylum, only Nurse Fenton empathizes with Nellie and feels a moral obligation to help her. Unlike her colleagues, she does not approve of the treatment methods at Blackwell, yet she is too fearful to confront the head nurse, Matron Grady. What I appreciate about Nurse Fenton is her willingness to trust her instincts despite the so-called "facts" and institutional rules. While the doctors' knowledge and Matron Grady’s authority may hold weight, she senses that something about the system is inherently wrong. Rather than blindly following orders, she chooses to act on her conscience, recognizing Nellie as more than just a patient to be easily categorized or stereotyped.
Nellie’s decision to commit herself to Blackwell’s Asylum was beyond courageous. She later wrote Ten Days in a Madhouse, a groundbreaking exposé that catapulted her to overnight fame, making her one of the first celebrity journalists.
There are many things I would do in the pursuit of truth, but voluntarily entering a dangerous asylum—especially as a woman in that time period—would be terrifying. Nellie’s story is one of bravery, confidence, and relentless curiosity. She serves as a reminder that we should always listen and learn, even when we think we already know everything or believe we are simply following the rules.
Matron Grady, on the other hand, represents the consequences of blind obedience. Had she been more compassionate and open-minded, she might have learned something valuable from her patients. Her choices highlight the weight of responsibility for those in positions of power. She had the opportunity to be a force for change, yet she chose compliance over compassion.
Directed by Karen Moncrieff.
Written by Helen Childress
