The Natural State

A woman goes to a radical Indian anti-guru to be destroyed by him. She films everything.

2026 · 100 min · Documentary

In 1989, Julie Thayer, a wealthy mother from New York City, went to the Swiss Alps to have her ego destroyed. The man she chose for the job was U.G. Krishnamurti, a radical Indian anti-guru who refused followers, refused donations, and told everyone who came to him to go away. Julie stayed — and filmed everything. The Natural State is built from that archive, hundreds of hours unseen for decades, and from the private journals Julie kept as U.G.'s psychological "blasting" carried her from ecstasy to devastation.

Directed by Matthew Dougherty