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Freud's Last Session
On the eve of the Second World War, two of the greatest minds of the twentieth century, C.S. Lewis and Sigmund Freud converge for their own personal battle over the existence of God. The film interweaves the lives of Freud and Lewis, past, present, and through fantasy, bursting from the confines of Freud’s study on a dynamic journey.
2023 · Directed by Matt Brown · 109 min · Drama · Screenplay in the scene database · 14 frames
Tagline
September 3, 1939. The world is on the brink. A monumental session with two of the greatest minds of the twentieth century over the future of mankind and the existence of God.
Plot
A fictional meeting occurs between C. S. Lewis, nicknamed "Jack", and Sigmund Freud, two days after the start of World War II. They debate the existence of God, as Freud greatly resents Lewis's recent rejection of his own strain of atheism in favour of Christianity, and many other subjects. The two men discuss issues such as Lewis's 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's relationships with other people, such as Freud's daughter Anna, who is codependent upon her father. However, she eventually introduces her lesbian lover, Dorothy Burlingham, to him.
At its close, the film records that Freud died by suicide several weeks later due to the intense pain from his oral cancer; Lewis became a famous author of Christian literature, and the children he took in as evacuees during the war inspired The Chronicles of Narnia; Anna and Dorothy lived together for decades, and Anna became 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.
Plot summary from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA.
Crew
- Screenplay: Matt Brown
- Written by: Mark St. Germain
- Cinematography: Ben Smithard
- Edited by: Paul Tothill
- Music: Coby Brown
- Production design: Luciana Arrighi
- Produced by: Alan Greisman, Rick Nicita, Meg Thomson, Robert Stillman
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
- Stephen Campbell Moore as J. R. R. Tolkien
- Orla Brady as Janie Moore
- David Shields as Weldon
- Tarek Bishara as Jacob Freud
- George Andrew-Clarke as Paddy Moore
Production
- Country: Ireland, United Kingdom, United States of America
- Language: English
- Studios: WestEnd Films, CAA Media Finance, 14 Sunset, LB Entertainment
- Budget: $10,000,000
- Box office: $1,697,993
- Themes: world war ii, based on true story, author, historical fiction, belief in god, psychiatry, 1940s, 1930s, lesbian, independent film
On this film
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