Just a couple of days ago, Shelley Duvall, star of The Shinning, died. He died at 75 years of age. And the question I can ask myself is: how much of that life was shortened by the suffering caused by the filming of that movie? Was it really necessary for Stanley Kubrick to psychologically abuse her to get his supposedly perfect shots? Didn't Kubrick know that an actor can do things without reaching that level of abuse? The Shinning is a great movie but a terrible adaptation. It works visually, but not narratively. The madness of its protagonist appears out of nowhere, without a development arc. Infinite takes for a film that Stephen King himself rejects. The sign of a narcissistic egomaniac who exaggerated his methods. We have dozens of directors who did not need to torture their actors and actresses to make great films. Kubrick, like others, chooses to believe that it is necessary to suffer for an illusion, to strengthen what is actually the fear of not being as perfect as they believe they are. In between, Shelley Duvall endured a lifetime of suffering for just one movie. It doesn't matter how good or bad that movie is. She didn't deserve that treatment, nor does anyone deserve it. Now all that remains is a prayer for his rest.