Freud (1962)

User Rating:

6.9/10   

Director:

John Huston

Writers:

Charles Kaufman (screenplay)
Charles Kaufman (story)

Release Date:

12 December 1962 (USA)

Genre:

Biography | Drama

Plot:

This pseudo-biographical movie depicts 5 years from 1885 on in the life of the Viennan psychologist Freud (1856-1939)...

Plot Keywords:

Psychoanalysis | Character Name In Title

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 7 nominations

Cast

Montgomery Clift	...	Sigmund Freud
Susannah York	...	Cecily Koertner
Larry Parks	...	Dr. Joseph Breuer
Susan Kohner	...	Martha Freud
Eileen Herlie	...	Frau Ida Koertner
Fernand Ledoux	...	Dr. Charcot
David McCallum	...	Carl von Schlossen
Rosalie Crutchley	...	Frau Freud
David Kossoff	...	Jacob Freud
Joseph Fürst	...	Herr Jacob Koertner
Alexander Mango	...	Babinsky
Leonard Sachs	...	Brouhardier
Eric Portman	...	Dr. Theodore Meynert
John Huston	...	Narrator (voice)
Victor Beaumont	...	Dr. Guber

Also Known As:

Freud: The Secret Passion

Runtime:

120 min (theatrical version) | 140 min (original version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

West Germany:18 (nf) | Finland:K-16

Filming Locations:

Nymphenburg Palace, Munich, Bavaria, Germany

Company:

Universal International Pictures (UI)

Trivia:

Robert LaGuardia, in his 1988 biography of Montgomery Clift "Monty," claimed that director John Huston, who had paternalistic feelings towards Clift after directing the alcoholic and emotionally troubled actor in The Misfits (1961), became sadistic towards him during the troubled "Freud" shoot. Basing his charges on interviews with co-star Susannah York, LaGuardia claimed that Huston kept asking Clift about the Freudian concept of "represssion," obviously alluding to Clift's repressed homosexuality. Apparently, Huston himself could not broach the idea that Monty was gay in his own mind, but subconsciously, he reacted to Monty's homosexuality quite negatively. (Marilyn Monroe had admonished Monty not to work with Huston again, finding him a sadist on the "Misfits" set. Her ex-husband Arthur Miller, on the other hand, did not fault Huston in his autobiography "Timebends," but instead, marveled about how he kept his cool during the "Misfits" shoot, which was also troubled due to Marilyn Monroe's mental illness and frequent absences from the set.) Monty's biographer thought that Huston still had paternalistic feelings towards the actor, but was subconsciously appalled at his surrogate son's homosexuality; thus, he began to torture him on the set by insisting on unnecessary retakes and that he perform his own stunts, such as climbing up a rope. Despite Monty's many problems, he always proved a trouper, and gave as much as he could.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Don de la duda, El (2006)

excellent bio by Huston

Huston does very good work here, using a fine script in presenting the story of Freud not as a standard biography, but concentrating only on his initial work in examining the effect of the subconscious mind on conscious (though perhaps involuntary) actions - an idea believed preposterous at the time. The narrative is presented essentially as a psychological detective story, as Freud tries to discover the root causes of one patient's multiple afflictions and aberrant behavior, none of which has any physical cause. The film uses depictions of memories, dreams, thoughts as visual clues - all progressively revealing more - to lead us (and Freud) steadily closer to the underlying truth in the case, as well as in other areas disturbing him.

The opening and closing narration (by Huston) is effective, though the occasional narration he does as the story progresses bothered me a little; it was as if they felt there was something missing from the film which had to be explained in voiceover, and it also pulled me out of the story momentarily. Probably it would have been more effective if Clift (rather than Huston) had done the narration, from Freud's point of view, in the body of the film.

The film, which maintains a serious, fiercely somber atmosphere throughout (similar to The Elephant Man though perhaps more so here), does not proceed with any real speed - you'll need to stay with it; and the dark, harsh style of photography and music (while effective) might be difficult for some viewers. You need not agree with Freud's concluding theories (many of which are not held in particularly high regard today) in order to recognize the importance and validity of his primary methods and pioneering work in what was then a highly ridiculed field. 8 of 10