Reviews and Comments by Ken Burke
I invite you to join me on a regular basis to see how my responses to current cinematic offerings compare to the critical establishment, which I’ll refer to as either the CCAL (Collective Critics at Large) if they’re supportive or the OCCU (Often Cranky Critics Universe) when they go negative. However, due to COVID concerns I’m mostly addressing streaming options with limited visits to theaters, where I don’t think I’ve missed much anyway, though better options may be on the horizon. (Note: Anything in bold blue [some may look near purple] is a link to something more in the review.)
My reviews’ premise: “You can’t please everyone, so you got to please yourself.”
(from "Garden Party" by Rick Nelson and the Stone Canyon Band, 1972 album of the same name)
As noted in my last posting, my dance card's been rather filled over these previous days so this review will have to be more concise than usual (applause appreciated). Also, I came across 1 last film from 2023 (probably, but no guarantees) I had wanted to see so my goal of shifting to only 2024 releases will have to wait another week (but I'll also include an even older one next time, by request).
SHORT TAKES
Here’s the trailer:
(Use the full screen button in the image’s lower right to enlarge its size;
activate the same button or use “esc” keyboard key to return to normal.)
If you can abide plot spoilers read on, but this blog’s intended for those who’ve seen the film or want to save some $ (as well as recognizing those readers like me who just aren’t that tech-savvy). To help any of you who want to learn more details yet avoid these all-important plot-reveals I’ll identify any give-away sentences/sentence-clusters with colors plus arrows:
⇒The first and last words will be noted with arrows and red.⇐ OK, now continue on if you prefer.
This fictional story has a chain of adaptation, directly from a stage play of the same name by Mark St. German (2009) who had previously adapted it from Armand Nicholi’s book, The Question of God (2002). On screen we begin in England on the eve of WW II (1939) as famed “Father of Psychoanalysis” Sigmund Freud (Anthony Hopkins) and his psychiatrist daughter, Anna (Liv Lisa Fries), have escaped from Vienna as Nazi Germany was taking over Austria (the Gestapo even detained Anna for awhile), settled in London, where Dr. Freud is stunned to learn Oxford Professor C.S. Lewis (Matthew Goode) has renounced atheism, become a devout Christian, so Freud invites Lewis to London to debate with him on this choice, including their differences on the very existence of God. Along the way of these conversations we see flashbacks of Lewis’ miserable existence as a soldier in WW I, Anna’s concern about how she’s become too dependent on her father—especially now that he’s ill with oral cancer, intends to commit suicide when the pain becomes too severe—even as it’s causing friction with her lesbian lover, Dorothy Burlingham (Jodie Balfour), a union which isn’t pleasing to Dad, and we even hear a bit about Lord of the Rings author J.R.R. Tolkien. As the story progresses, Freud and Lewis talk about the nature of longing, the problems each of them had with their fathers, but ultimately Freud is much more pessimistic than Lewis, proclaiming: “We are the pestilence […] we are the apocalypse,” even tells Lewis regarding his new devotion to religion, “Grow up!" Lewis replies “Man’s suffering is the fault of man,” not the acts of an evil God, which seems to be behind Freud’s rejection of a God who would allow young, innocent people (including some known to Freud) to die needlessly. ⇒Ultimately, Lewis returns to Oxford, some years later becomes famous with his Narnia books; Anna and Dorothy reconcile after some trauma, live together for decades, with Anna becoming known as the founder of child psychology; Sigmund commits suicide in 1939. Graphics prior to the end credits note Freud did actually meet with an Oxford don (their title for a teacher) in his last days, although it’s not clear that person was Lewis.⇐
For many viewers there may be enough pleasure just in seeing 2-time-Oscar-winner Hopkins (Best Actor inThe Silence of the Lambs [Jonathan Demme, 1991] and The Father [Florian Zeller, 2020; review in our April 1, 2021 posting]) and Goode (probably best known for his work in the TV series Downton Abbey and The Crown), although director/co-screenwriter (with St. Germain) Brown hopes we’ll find the deeper meaning in this narrative (quote from the press kit): “We live in a strange, surreal age that is ideologically polarized, with everyone stuck in their own tribes. There’s no respect for others’ points of view — and yet a real dialogue with others is exactly what people seem to be thirsting for. […] The beauty of the story is that while there are no answers, it’s only through conversation that personal growth becomes possible for each of them. I wanted to make a film that was emotional, thought-provoking, and creative, that asked big questions, and looked deeply at the heart of all human condition: Love, faith, and mortality. […] We are all lacking answers that we can only try to seek from within. In FREUD’S LAST SESSION, audiences experience their own cathartic journey faced with these same questions.“ It had a limited domestic (U.S.-Canada) release on December 22, 2023, made about $906 thousand at the box-office (no global distribution) and falls into the OCCU realm as Rotten Tomatoes positive reviews are only 44% while the Metacritic average score is 49%, yet I find it to be a noteworthy film, considerably more fascinating than that.
If you’re interested, consult streaming options where you can rent it from Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+, Vudu, etc. in range of $5.99-$19.99. For now, given I’m being unusually brief in my commentary (gratitude acknowledged) I’ll give you a double-dose of my wrap-up tactic of a Musical Metaphor beginning with a whimsical version of Lewis dismissing Freud’s psychoanalytical approach with Joni Mitchell’s “Twisted” (on her 1974 Court and Spark album [song written in 1952 by Annie Ross, set to a 1949 Wardell Gray tenor saxophone recording]) at https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=0Us6PzRvOa8 where a patient has an alternate-reality scenario to elaborate for her therapist: “My analyst told me / That I was right out of my head / But I said ‘Dear Doctor / I think that it’s you instead […] ‘Cause instead of one head / I got two / And you know two heads are better than one.” To counter, I’ll have Freud undercut Lewis with The Beach Boys’ “God Only Knows” (on their 1966 Pet Sounds album featuring Carl Wilson's angelic voice) at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0lj3WX_5ps where instead of the singer hypothetically mourning the possible loss of his lover, we’ll replace her with God whose disappearance from Lewis’ certainty would leave him devastated in a manner that only such a Diety could comprehend: “If you should ever leave me / Well, life would still go on, believe me / The world could show nothing to me / So what good would living do me? / God only knows what I’d be without you.” Maybe I’m being too metaphorical in both instances here, so if anyone has any better ideas please let me know. Be back next week with more of my rambles.
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