By Mark Fields
Talky Art-House Movie Imagines Conversation Between Freud and C.S. Lewis
I can’t really figure out the intent behind Freud’s Last Session, a new film that imagines a day-long discussion between noted psychoanalyst (and determined atheist) Sigmund Freud and British scholar and author (and questioning Christian) C.S. Lewis. Ostensibly a spirited, high-toned debate on the existence of God, it is instead a talky and meandering affair that does little service to the intellect of either of the two historical figures involved.
A more likely reason for this film is the casting of Anthony Hopkins as Freud. As a devoted fan of the actor myself, it was certainly part of the appeal of the film. Unfortunately, beyond a similarity in age and a passing resemblance, Hopkins — unhelped by a stodgy screenplay — does little to illuminate one of the most intriguing personages of the 20th century. Rather, he falls back on a actorly bags of tricks familiar to any keen observer of his recent, late-in-life performances. Matthew Goode, as Lewis, is given even less script guidance, and his portrayal rarely rises above bland.
Based on a stage play by Mark St.Germain, which the playwright adapted with director Matt Brown, Freud’s Last Session never escapes its theater roots. Played mostly in the rooms of Freud’s London home, the interruptions of flashbacks and brief scenes in other locales never transcends the story’s basic staginess.
This fictional meeting between two intellectual titans is set in the immediate aftermath of Germany’s 1939 invasion of Poland and a few short weeks before Freud’s assisted death by morphine (he suffers from terminal oral cancer). Though that setting provides some historical color for the film with its evocation of wartime London, such context provides no further heft to the theological debate at the movie’s core.
Pointless seems overly harsh, perhaps the best description of Freud’s Last Session is unnecessary. Nonetheless, the main actors are amiable, the setting is evocative, and the dialogue is high-minded. If that’s the extent of your expectation, you’ll be fine.
