Freud's Last Session
- Mark St. Germain
- Matthew Brown
by Mark St. Germain
- Alan Greisman
- Rick Nicita
- Meg Thomson
- Hannah Leader
- Tristan Orpen Lynch
- Robert Stillman
- Matthew Brown
- Anthony Hopkins
- Matthew Goode
- Liv Lisa Fries
- Jodi Balfour
- Jeremy Northam
- Orla Brady
companies
- Fís Éireann / Screen Ireland
- Last Session Productions
- Subotica Productions
- 14 Sunset
- Sony Pictures Classics (Select territories)
- Vertigo Releasing[1] (United Kingdom and Ireland)
- 27 October 2023 (2023-10-27) (AFI)
- 22 December 2023 (2023-12-22) (United States)
- 14 June 2024 (2024-06-14) (United Kingdom)
Freud's Last Session is a 2023 drama film starring Anthony Hopkins, Matthew Goode, Liv Lisa Fries, Jodi Balfour, Jeremy Northam, and Orla Brady. It is based on the stage play of the same name by Mark St. Germain, which itself is based upon the book The Question of God, by Armand Nicholi. The film was directed by Matthew Brown and written by St. Germain.
Freud's Last Session premiered at the 2023 AFI Fest on October 27, 2023. Sony Pictures Classics released the film in the United States on 22 December 2023 to mixed reviews from critics.
Plot
A fictional meeting occurs between C. S. Lewis, nicknamed "Jack", and Sigmund Freud, two days after the start of World War II. A debate on the existence of God, as Freud greatly resents Lewis' recent rejection of his own strain of atheism in favour of Christianity, and many other subjects follow. The two men discuss issues such as Lewis' post traumatic stress disorder as a World War I combat veteran, J.R.R. Tolkien and the Inklings, and the nature of Freud's and Lewis' relationships with other people, such as Freud's daughter Anna, who is pathologically dependent upon her father. However, she eventually introduces her lesbian lover, Dorothy Burlingham, to him.
Freud dies by suicide several weeks later due to the intense pain from his oral cancer. C.S. Lewis goes on to become a famous author of Christian literature, and the children he later takes in as evacuees during the war serve as inspiration for his Narnia series. Anna and Dorothy live together for decades, and Anna becomes known as the founder of child psychology. The film notes that Freud met with an unidentified Oxford don in the last days of his life, who could possibly have been Lewis.[4]
Cast
- Anthony Hopkins as Sigmund Freud
- Matthew Goode as C. S. Lewis
- Liv Lisa Fries as Anna Freud
- Jodi Balfour as Dorothy Burlingham
- Jeremy Northam as Ernest Jones
- Orla Brady as Janie Moore
Production
WestEnd Films and CAA Media Finance took the project for sales to the Cannes Film Festival in May 2022 with Anthony Hopkins cast, and Matthew Brown on board as director for the St. Germain adaptation.[5] The film is produced by Alan Greisman, Rick Nicita, Meg Thomson and Hannah Leader, with production beginning in the U.K. in late January 2023.[6] However, for financial reasons Freud’s Hampstead house and famous psychoanalyst couch were recreated in Dublin at the Ardmore Studios.[7] A selection of props from the film (particularly the replica couch and garden tent chair) have since May 2023 been housed at the Freud Museum London. Co-produced by Aiofe O’Sullivan and Tristan Orpen Lynch of Subotica Operations, the film received UK Global Screen Fund International Co-production funding.[8][9] An image from principal photography was released in April 2023 with the film entering the final stages of filming in Ireland.[10]
Release
Freud's Last Session premiered at the 2023 AFI Fest on October 27, 2023.[11] That same month, Sony Pictures Classics purchased the distribution rights for North America, Middle East, India, Eastern Europe (excluding Russia), and Turkey.[12] It had a limited release in the United States on 22 December 2023.[13]
Reception
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 44% of 86 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.7/10. The website's consensus reads: "Anthony Hopkins and Matthew Goode are a tremendously talented pair, but Freud's Last Session is too scattered and thinly written to take full advantage of their efforts."[14] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 49 out of 100, based on 15 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.[15]
References
- ^ "All Future Releases". Film Distributors' Association. Retrieved 3 March 2024.
- ^ a b c Debruge, Peter (28 October 2023). "Freud's Last Session Review: Anthony Hopkins Slips Easily Into Sigmund's Skin in Talky Two-Hander". Variety. Retrieved 8 December 2023.
- ^ "Freud's Last Session". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved 29 March 2024.
- ^ Gonzalez, Umberto (2 November 2022). "'Freud's Last Session' Starring Anthony Hopkins and Matthew Goode Lands at Sony Pictures Classics". The Wrap. Retrieved 23 March 2023.
- ^ Ritman, Alex (21 May 2022). "Cannes: Anthony Hopkins to Play Sigmund Freud in 'Freud's Last Session'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 23 March 2023.
- ^ Ritman, Alex (2 November 2022). "AFM: Sony Pictures Classics Buys 'Freud's Last Session' Starring Anthony Hopkins as Famed Neurologist". Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 23 March 2023.
- ^ Alberge, Dalya (13 February 2023). "Freudian trip: psychoanalyst's London home recreated in Dublin for major film". The Guardian. Retrieved 23 March 2023.
- ^ Considine, Pippa (21 November 2022). "BFI UK Global Screen Fund: £2.2m to 14 co-pros". televisual.com. Retrieved 26 April 2023.
- ^ Daly, Lindy (12 March 2023). "Irish film industry facing plot twist after Oscars success as streamers withdraw". The Times. Retrieved 23 March 2023.
- ^ Goodfellow, Melanie (11 April 2023). "First Image Of Anthony Hopkins & Matthew Goode In 'Freud's Last Session' As Legendary Psychoanalyst & C.S. Lewis". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 11 April 2023.
- ^ Hazelton, John. "AFI Fest line-up includes world premiere of Freud's Last Session". Screen Daily. Retrieved 6 October 2023.
- ^ Grobar, Matt (5 October 2023). "Sony Pictures Classics Dates Freud's Last Session Starring Anthony Hopkins & Matthew Goode – Update". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 6 October 2023.
- ^ London, Rob (5 December 2023). "Two Legendary Minds Meet in Freud's Last Session Trailer". Collider. Retrieved 8 December 2023.
- ^ "Freud's Last Session". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved 18 December 2023.
- ^ "Freud's Last Session". Metacritic. Fandom, Inc. Retrieved 8 December 2023.
External links
- Official website
- Freud's Last Session at IMDb
- v
- t
- e
- On Aphasia (1891)
- Studies on Hysteria (1895)
- The Interpretation of Dreams (including On Dreams) (1899)
- The Psychopathology of Everyday Life (1901)
- Jokes and Their Relation to the Unconscious (1905)
- Totem and Taboo (1913)
- Introduction to Psychoanalysis (1916–17)
- The History of the Psychoanalytic Movement (1917)
- Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego (1921)
- The Ego and the Id (1923)
- The Question of Lay Analysis (1926)
- The Future of an Illusion (1927)
- Civilization and Its Discontents (1930)
- Moses and Monotheism (1939)
- "The Aetiology of Hysteria" (1896)
- Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality (1905)
- Delusion and Dream in Jensen's Gradiva (1907)
- Creative Writers and Day-Dreaming (1908)
- Leonardo da Vinci, A Memory of His Childhood (1910)
- On Narcissism (1914)
- The History of the Psychoanalytic Movement (1914)
- Some Character-Types Met with in Psycho-Analytic Work (1915)
- Thoughts for the Times on War and Death (1916)
- Mourning and Melancholia (1918)
- Beyond the Pleasure Principle (1920)
- Medusa's Head (1922)
- Dostoevsky and Parricide (1928)
- "Dora" (Ida Bauer)
- Emma Eckstein
- Herbert Graf ("Little Hans")
- Irma's injection
- "Anna O." (Bertha Pappenheim)
- "Rat Man"
- Sergei Pankejeff ("Wolfman")
- Daniel Paul Schreber
concepts
- Bibliography
- Archives
- Vienna home and museum
- London home and museum
- Interment
- Freudian slip
- Humor
- Inner circle
- Neo-Freudianism
- Views on homosexuality
- Religious views
depictions
- Freud: The Secret Passion (1962 film)
- The Visitor (1993 play)
- Mahler on the Couch (2010 film)
- A Dangerous Method (2011 film)
- Freud (2020 TV series)
- Freud's Last Session (2023 film)