People have long been fascinated with cults. Long before humans spent countless hours on TikTok and Instagram, there were bold headlines that captured our attention. (Remember newspapers?) Back in the late 1960s, cult figure Charles Manson emerged. In the 1970s, there was psyched-out Father Yod and slippery Jim Jones. In the 1990s, Joseph Di Mambro and Luc Jouret raised eyebrows with their doomsday cult, and Marshall Applewhite single-handedly orchestrated a mass suicide in conjunction with a comet.
Hollywood never really shied away from attempting to capture these stories. From 1973’s Manson to the more current The Invitation and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, audiences were glued to the screen. Heck, the upcoming film The Resurrection of Charles Manson starring Frank Grillo (Captain America: The Winter Soldier) is bound to intrigue.
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But there’s something truly fascinating, and even necessary, about the new documentary series The Fourth Wall, which recently debuted at the Tribeca Film Festival. In an era filled with divisiveness, opinion news, and extreme political polarization, director Luke Meyer (Darkon, Breaking a Monster) and collaborator Keith Newton have created a must-see endeavor regardless of ideology.
The Fourth Wall boldly and effectively shines the spotlight on the Sullivanians, New York City’s secretive “psychotherapy sex cult” that was hidden in plain sight on Manhattan’s Upper West Side in the ’70s and ‘80s. Helmed by founder Saul Newton, it flourished until its dramatic collapse in 1991. Honing in on Keith Newton’s past ties to the group when he was a child, the duo does more than just uncover long-hidden secrets. They create an opportunity to witness both the resilience and the fragility of human beings — and their psyches.
The Fourth Wall Will Blow You Away
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“The nuclear family is the root of all evil.” That was Saul Newton’s modus operandi. The enigmatic figure believed that other people should be raising your kids. No doubt, he pointed the finger at how many adults found themselves in therapy, working through their mommy and daddy issues at the time. The Fourth Wall captures the impetus of The Sullivanians with a shrewd eye and a hell of a lot of grace.
You see, Keith Newton, the writer and executive producer of The Fourth Wall, is the son of founder Saul Newton. His mother, Helen, a Sullivanian, is interviewed in the film as well, along with many others involved with the cult at the time — from adults who were children at the time, to older adults who reflect on how everything went down.
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Keith Newton’s personal connection to the project give audiences to root for. We want to know how things came to be and how Keith Newton managed to find balance and stability in his adult life. He credits the birth of his daughter, to some degree, noting how he couldn’t imagine his daughter being taken out of his care. But it’s the man’s earnestness, curiosity, and his heart you see him wearing on his sleeve that engages viewers. His mission: to expose the truth.
Saul Newton died at 85 in 1991, the year the cult tanked. The group’s history has never been told in this fashion. Rich in detail and full of balanced reporting, it goes beyond traditional cult-narrative tales and leans into the emotional aftermath for both victims and perpetrators. Exposing the guilt, shame, trauma, and, ultimately, healing of everybody involved creates one of the compelling documentaries to experience this year.
Personal Tales Elevate the Documentary
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In The Fourth Wall, “intimate and exclusive” access to former members, therapists, and children of the group capture a story whose ripple effects stretch throughout the decades. “It was perverse that he was lecturing anybody on being psychologically healthy,” one former member notes of Saul Newton in the documentary. We’re told he was married six times and that when he tired of one wife, moved onto another while the “exes” remained in the group.
“Saul was an ‘idea,” another former Sullivanian revealed. “He was figuring out what your weak points were and going after them.” Meanwhile, another group member said: “[Saul] was brilliant scary, a street fighter, a warrior, a gang leader — he had that type of mentality.” He also has people right where he wanted them — in his control.
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Keith Newton’s fascination with his past, his father’s influence, and how it affected him and others drives this project. It’s both eerie and fascinating to learn of the theater company the group formed and why. Facts, talking heads, and archival images fill the screen with intention and purpose in this winning documentary. It’s astounding. It’s frightening.
Meanwhile, there’s some fodder on how the group got is name — from prominent psychiatrist Henry Stack Sullivan. We’re also taken back to 1957, when Saul Newton and Dr. Jane Pearce, his wife, drifted away from the Sullivan-based William Alanson White Institute to form their own spectacle. Eventually, there were reports of Newton and Pearce distorting Sullivan’s original ideas. The filmmakers are valiant and successful in their attempts to capture all this with great care.
It’s fitting, too, that the press was privy to some of director Luke Meyer’s past and why this project meant so much to him — as a child, he was part of a guru-led meditation ashram, and experienced his own fringe childhood. Ultimately, these filmmakers illuminate the dire depths of the Sullivanians’ psychological violence. And yet… there’s hope, pretty glimmers woven into the deeply human tapestry of The Fourth Wall. This is the documentary series to watch this year.
The Fourth Wall, currently at Tribeca Film Festival, is a SeeThink Films & Submarine Deluxe production.
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