Freud's Last Session (#507)


I’m glad I searched more diligently for my movie choice over the weekend because the website showed that the length of one of the films I was considering was over 3 hours and I did not want to be sitting that long again. Subsequent looks indicated it was less than 2 hours, so I saw FREUD’S LAST SESSION and was very glad I did. This film depicts an imaginary meeting between Sigmund Freud and a professor at Oxford, C.S. Lewis, who gained fame later as an author of such well known works as The Chronicle of NARNIA.  Sickly Freud, who has cancer of the mouth, is angry at Lewis who allegedly satirized Freud in a book, and they engage in an intriguing dialogue on love, sex, philosophy and the existence of God.  The discussion takes place in Freud’s home in London and occurs on the day Winston Churchill declares war on Germany at the start of World War II.  Anthony Hopkins plays Freud and and Matthew Goode was Lewis and both were excellent. Full of flashbacks of both men’s early life, and further enhanced by the relationship of Freud with his daughter Anna, who is romantically involved with another woman, it kept my attention throughout despite the often esoteric conversation.  Chronologically, Freud committed suicide two weeks after this alleged dialogue.  I discovered that this fantasy meeting has its antecedents in a book by a Harvard professor and subsequently an off-Broadway play from a dozen years ago.  I would categorize this one as a sleeper, which probably is not getting wide circulation, but perhaps you can find it streaming if not in theaters.  I had a feeling that this one wouldn’t be the critics cup of tea, and I was correct.  Only 45% gave it a thumbs up, but audiences (82%) joined me in liking it.

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