Filmed on location in Germany, Freud, which unfolds much like a mystery, deals with the psychoanalyst in an early point in his career, from 1885 to 1890. Along with his mentor, Josef Breuer (Larry Parks), Freud uses hypnosis to peel away the layer that lies beneath his patients' psychosis and begins to develop the ideas that would contribute to his best-known theory, the Oedipus complex. After establishing Freud as a pioneer who is nevertheless perceived as a quack by his colleagues, the film establishes his hypnotherapy technique. One of his patients is Carl Von Schlossen (David McCallum), a young man who has tried to kill his father. When Freud puts the young man into a hypnotic trance, he discovers that Carl's father raped his mother, and that Carl is sexually attracted to her (so much so that Carl kisses a mannequin that he imagines is his mother). Freud, who nurses something of a mother fixation himself, is frightened enough by this revelation that he locks young Carl in his room and abstains for a time the practice of psychoanalysis. Eventually, Breuer visits Freud and persuades him to help with a particularly difficult case. His patient's name is Cecily Koertner (played by Susannah York), a young woman whose initial problems include a refusal to drink water and horrible nightmares. Freud quickly discovers, however, that these symptoms are the tip of the iceberg. Cecily is also sexually repressed, and she has fixated on her father.
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| Freud, in a dream sequence, confronts his fears |
Freud is not an easily accessible film. There is no Region 1 DVD or Blu-Ray, and the movie never shows up on the schedules of cable movie channels. Even Turner Classic Movies (TCM) hasn't shown it. Way back in the early 1990s, AMC--when it was still American Movie Classics--broadcast it, and I recorded it onto videotape. Since then I have transferred it to disc, and even though the picture quality is poor, I am glad to have a copy--any copy--to view.
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| A nice collage from the film |
Beyond its script issue, Freud had a troubled production. Huston--who'd worked with Montgomery Clift the year before on The Misfits--had nothing but trouble with his his star--and vice versa. In addition to his increasing drug and alcohol intake, Clift was suffering from cataracts, which obviously impaired his vision. At this point in his career, Clift was also experiencing difficulty with memorizing his lines. Unfortunately, Huston, who was never one to coddle, went after Clift, trying to bully a performance out of the increasingly insecure actor. Consequently, the film production became divided into two camps--one pro-Clift and one pro-Huston. Susannah York was especially vocal about Huston's nasty treatment of his troubled lead actor. Huston, carrying more power as director, had more allies, though the actors generally sided with Clift. Upon release, Huston's film wasn't popular and didn't play in the theaters for long, though it did appear on some ten best lists. Today, the movie has a 7.3 rating on IMDB and a 71% on Rotten Tomatoes (though that's based on only six reviews).
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| Freud (Montgomery Clift) and Breuer (Larry Parks) working side by side. |
Montgomery Clift gives, in my opinion, a stellar performance as Freud. The film benefits from Clift's tortured, alienated persona, which helps convey Freud's anxiety and lack of confidence. In Clift's deft hands, the uncertain quality he brings to the role makes him relatable and sympathetic. Larry Parks, a gifted actor who was not seen on screen for nearly ten years due to the Hollywood blacklist of the 1940s and 1950s, is equally effective as Joseph Breuer. And the demanding role of Cecily is skillfully played by Susannah York in what was only her fourth film. Her effort was rewarded with a Golden Globe nomination as Best Actress in a Drama. The film similarly garnered nominations for Best Picture-Drama, Best Director, and Best Supporting Actress for Susan Kohner's performance as Freud's wife, Martha. Freud also received Oscar nominations for Best Original Screenplay and Best Original Score but lost both to Divorce, Italian Style and Lawrence of Arabia, respectively.
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The beautiful Susannah York as Cecily Koertner,
Dr. Freud's most demanding patient.
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John Huston is one of cinema's most celebrated figures with films like The Maltese Falcon, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The Asphalt Jungle, The African Queen, Moby Dick, The Misfits, The Man Who Would Be King, and Prizzi's Honor to his credit. However Huston, whose directing career lasted nearly fifty years and almost forty films, has many "failures" whose reputation could stand re-evaluation. Freud would definitely benefit from such a re-evaluation and might even stand at the top of such a list. I, personally, am proud to have discovered it way back in the 1970s when, remarkably, it was more accessible than it is today. Freud isn't perfect--at nearly two hours and twenty minutes, it could be labeled a trifle long; and its black and white photography may be off-putting to a younger audience raised on color--but its virtues, including good writing, sensitive performances, and an excellent score by Jerry Goldsmith are well worth its length. If you ever get a chance to view this forgotten film, I'd definitely recommend you do. I wish Universal Pictures would issue this movie on disc--even a bare bones on-demand one--as it is a worthy title, lost in a sea of underrated gems.
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| Freud's mother (Rosalie Crutchley) as she appears to him in one of film's several dream sequences. |
Sources:
IMDB
Wikipedia
Rotten Tomatoes
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