The Insane Experiment

Lotte Mathilde Nielsen & Thure Lindhardt / / 2023

From 1960 to 1973, Chief Physician Einar Geert-Jørgensen and a small select team of doctors treated several hundred Danish psychiatric patients with LSD in a basement at Frederiksberg Hospital. A large number of patients suffered serious consequences, and the LSD doctors were accused of subjecting patients to experimentation, coercion and lethal treatments with LSD, but were acquitted of all charges. But now, 60 years later, a secret archive of LSD doctors has emerged, casting doubt on the authorities’ decision in one of the most bizarre drug scandals in Danish history. Journalist Lotte Mathilde Nielsen is the director, and actor Thure Lindhardt has directed the dramatisation, using all his cinematic experience with dramatic reconstructions and star actors like Søren Pilmark and Amalie Dollerup in the roles of the LSD doctors. The drama documentary ‘The Insane Experiment’ is the story of systemic failure and psychiatric patients hoping for help. At the same time, it is the story of how people can lose themselves in order to be part of a community, and lose their own judgement in believing in an idea.