Freud’s Last Session

Reviewed by:

G. Connor Salter, Professional Writing alumnus from Taylor University, Upland, IN.

Title:

Freud’s Last Session

Director:

Matthew Brown

Writer:

Matthew Brown and Mark St. Germain

Production Company:

Sony Pictures Classics

https://www.sonyclassics.com/

Website:

https://tickets.freudslastsessionfilm.com/

OVERVIEW

Sigmund Freud and C.S. Lewis would appear polar opposites to each other. One of these men was an atheist who dismissed religion as neurosis and saw most relationships as being essentially sexual. The other journeyed from atheism to Christianity and would lampoon Freudian ideas in various books. But what if the two men met? Freud’s Last Session imagines what might occur.

The date is September 3, 1939. News of coming to war with Germany is in the air—literally, as radio updates show. Freud has asked Lewis to meet at his London home. He is curious how a firmly rational atheist could give all that up to become a Christian. The discussion delves into faith, hope, their respective childhood experiences with religion, and messy relationships that neither is fully willing to discuss. In the background, the knowledge that war is coming means that all the questions they ask about good and evil have become deadly serious.

The script is adapted from Mark St. Germain’s 2009 play, itself inspired by a nonfiction book—The Question of God by Armand Nicholi, Jr.

The casting created a curious irony: Hopkins previously played C.S. Lewis in the 1993 movie Shadowlands. Now, he’s playing Freud opposite Matthew Goode’s C.S. Lewis. While that irony could have made this movie a novelty, they both play their characters so well that viewers won’t be concerned.

Given that Shadowlands was also based on a play, viewers may wonder how this movie handles the transition from stage to film. St. Germain and Brown stick fairly close to the play’s script, which has interesting results.

There are some added subplots to “open the play up.”  Various flashbacks reveal more about Lewis’ life: his WWI battle experiences, meetings with J.R.R. Tolkien and the other Inklings, and his complicated relationship with Janie Moore—a fallen WWI comrade’s mother whom Lewis promised to care for. Some scenes are not unlike material in The Most Reluctant Convert and various Lewis documentaries, but those scenes are handled more cinematically.

Perhaps more importantly, things that could have become soap opera territory (like whether there was a romance with Janie Moore during Lewis’ atheist years) are handled tactfully and cleverly. Viewers clearly see Lewis in all his complexity without making him too saintly.

The largest subplot, about Freud’s daughter Anna, works less well. Anna Freud lived with her father during this period while teaching in London, becoming a renowned psychoanalyst in her own right. The movie’s subplot details her day and pondering a secret she may want to tell him. The secret turns out to be that her collaborator, Dorothy Burlingham, is more than a friend to her. This revelation owes something to real life—historians have speculated whether these women had more than just a friendship. However, Anna denied claims there was anything sexual about it, and Dorothy’s grandson took the same view in his 1989 biography of her. So, this subplot feels like a forced melodrama to spice up a cerebral story.

While the subplots may sometimes feel forced, the play’s central thesis remains clear. Viewers see two men—both clever, both with understandable emotional reasons for their views about God—having a lively but civil discussion about what faith. They don’t change each other’s minds but come away with renewed respect for each other. That message is particularly enriching now, when many Christians are struggling to agree with each other, much less get along with their secular neighbors.

It may overstep the history, and various discussions about Anna Freud and her father’s sex theories make this definitely a movie for grownups. The story also lacks some of Shadowlands’ cohesion—mostly because Shadowlands didn’t need flashbacks or huge expansions to work as a film. Still, Freud’s Last Session is an engaging movie that does Lewis’ life justice and gets audiences thinking.

ASSESSMENT

Rating (1 to 5 stars):

4 out of 5 stars

Suggested Audience:

Adult viewers who are familiar with Lewis’s nonfiction and interested in how his ideas contrast with Freud’s. Also recommended for viewers seeking an imaginative look at the riches of interfaith dialogue.

Christian Impact:

The plot is built around an atheist and a Christian discussing their views but refuses to pander to audiences. Neither character becomes a straw man whose views get crushed by the other’s arguments. While I think the movie’s final images imply the filmmakers take Lewis’ side, that final verdict is handled through images, not dialogue. The filmmakers trust audiences to think through what they think of each character and see what the movie is finally saying. A compelling portrait of treating philosophical opponents like fellow human beings, even while arguing about deeply held beliefs.