Freud’s Last Session (2024 in Spain)

Plot of Freud’s Last Session: It is two days after the start of WWII. CS Lewis visits Freud in his house in Hampstead. Lewis is a former atheist but now Christian. Freud approaching the business logically is doubtful of the existence of any supreme being. While their discussion takes place Anna, Freud’s daughter is trying to obtain some drugs for her father, because he is suffering extreme pain due to his cancer of the jaw. The two men discuss their personal relationships, Freud’s with his daughter which is complex, particularly since Anna may be a lesbian. And Lewis’s with the mother of his friend who had been killed in the war. There are flashbacks to the war, and at one point while Lewis takes the Freud dog for a walk, Ernest Jones visits to ask Freud if he may approach Anna with a view to marriage. Freud dismisses him. At the end of the film Anna introduces her “friend” Dorothy Burlingham to her father.

Content: No sex or nudity, although it is discussed at bit if you are following the detail. The two men move about a bit in the Freud house as they discuss important things. There are flashbacks to the war when Lewis and his friend are in an advance across no man’s land and are blown up, Lewis injured and his friend killed. They drink a bit and there is some unpleasant stuff due to Freud’s cancer.

A View: I wondered if it was just me who was not being sufficiently intellectual to appreciate the exchanges between Freud and Lewis, but it turns out that I was not alone. There is not quite enough in it to hold the attention. Lewis’s stone walling of his possible relationship with the mother of his friend is noticeable and made me do a bit of research, but the film is not fun, and can hardly hold the attention for getting on for two hours. So possibly give it a miss. Like nearly everyone one else has.

Fun Fact: The film has 62 producers. Is this a record?