TV REVIEWS : Patient’s Painful Story Told in ‘Trust’

When a Chicago singer accused one of the world’s preeminent psychiatrists of raping her during drug therapy, she not only faced emotional distress and an addiction to the prescriptive drug, but she found few to believe her until other female patients eventually came forward with similar accusations.

The singer, Barbara Noel, told the painful, shameful, sordid story in her 1992 book, “You Must Be Dreaming,” written with Kathryn Watterson. And, because pain, shame and sordidness are the stuff of which TV dreams are made, it’s no surprise to find that NBC’s movie tonight is “Betrayal of Trust” (9 p.m. on Channels 4 and 39), based on Noel’s book.

The show opens with a repellent close-up of Dr. Masserman’s ruddled, puffy face as he finishes intercourse with the drugged Noel (Judith Light). Directed by George Kaczender and written by Suzette Couture, the sorry mess plays itself out with overused flashbacks, disbelieving authorities, unsupportive lawyers, Noel’s alcoholism, an inspirational friend’s cancer death and a childhood trauma that made Noel a prime candidate for victimization.

Noel’s recovery and her tenacious fight against the odds are admirable and Light’s portrayal is a game one, but Judd Hirsch, in one of the most thankless roles on record, plays Masserman as such an ugly, arrogant creep, it’s difficult to understand how anyone could give him credence.

According to press material, the film’s goal is to increase awareness “that doctor-patient abuse can and does happen,” but it makes for one long, dreary sit.