Susan Granger’s review of “Freud’s Last Session” (Sony Pictures Classics)
If you enjoy stimulating conversation, just imagine what mental jousting would occur if/when Sigmund Freud, the atheist ‘father’ of psychoanalysis, and erudite Christian apologist C.S. Lewis were to speculate about religion and the existence of God.
For the intellectual invention “Freud’s Last Session,” director Matthew Brown worked with writer Mark St. Germain to adapt his 2009 stage play into what is, basically, a compelling spiritual debate.
Having fled from Nazi-controlled Vienna in 1938, now 83-year-old Freud (Anthony Hopkins) and his daughter Anna (Liv Lisa Fries) have settled into a small house in London.
Suffering from terminal intraoral cancer, Freud is, nevertheless, intrigued when C.S. Lewis (Matthew Goode), an esteemed Oxford don, comes to call. Lewis is hoping that the dying doctor might find some consolation in the concept of an afterlife. A fervent convert to Christianity, this is before Lewis blended fantasy and doctrine in his beloved “Chronicles of Narnia.”
“We’re all cowards…We’ve never matured enough to overcome the terror of being in the dark,” Freud argues. To which Lewis counters: “Why does religion make room for science, but science refuses to make room for religion?”
Their verbal sparring is cohesive and respectful, deftly delineating their personal perspectives. As Freud notes: “From error to error, one discovers the entire truth.”
Dependent on periodic doses of morphine, Freud struggles with the cumbersome prosthesis he must wear to replace his resected palate and jaw. Plus, he’s stressed about Anna’s lesbian relationship with fellow analyst Dorothy Burlingham (Jodi Balfour); over the years, he and Anna have obviously had a co-dependent relationship.
Then when air-raid sirens warn of German bombers, they make their way to a nearby shelter. Previous to that excursion, there are numerous flashbacks to both men’s formative years, describing their respective backstories and the traumas that shaped their disparate philosophies.
Boasting exquisite performances by Hopkins and Goode, this is, essentially, a perceptive, character-drive narrative. Some may deem the highbrow discussion boring; others find the arguments exhilarating. Above all, the film accomplishes what its writer/director set out to do.
FYI: Hopkins played novelist C.S. Lewis in “Shadowlands” (1993) and, if you relish brain stimulation, track down “My Dinner with Andre” (1981) and “Mindwalk” (1990) for more compelling conversations.
On the Granger Gauge of 1 to 10, “Freud’s Last Session” is a thought-provoking, enlightening 9, now streaming on Apple TV. Prime Video and Vudu.
