‘Freud’s Last Session’ Review – A Quiet Drama With A Big Impact

With Freud’s Last Session, director Matthew Brown and team bring a fictionalized and biographical perspective to the screen, focusing primarily on Sigmund Freud, played by Anthony Hopkins, and C.S. Lewis, played by Matthew Goode. The premise of the film, a meeting historians know Freud took in the final days of his life, though they are unsure of who the meeting was with, spans a morning and afternoon during 1929. The conversation between the two literary figures moves through faith, education, and life, as expected, but by focusing on emotional and physical trauma as well, the film develops an adept theme on burdens we carry, whether by force or because of necessity.

From a historical approach, Freud’s Last Session is remarkable in its effort to explore a 24-hour period in the life of two mammoths in Western Literature, Philosophy, and thought, specifically in the midst of WWII. Though the film includes moments of PTSD, flashbacks, and even a present-day air raid drill, the war is otherwise non-existent, save Freud’s incessant need to check the radio for updates. His habits about the war are far different from Lewis’s, but their approaches to pain and trauma, both physical and mental, are just as far from one another.

As expected with a film set in England, the set pieces, clothing, and production in general quickly and comfortably place audiences in the locality. Whether in Freud’s garden, office, or den, audiences are welcome. This is important because the real tension is present, specifically in the language, voices, and trauma. Freud often takes calls with people we don’t hear, while Lewis often zones out mid-conversation, a feat Freud also experiences though it’s influenced by pain management through drugs and alcohol. The director sets their interaction up well by removing all other barriers and placing these great minds in close proximity to one another.

There’s always more we can say about Hopkins as we’re so fortunate that he continues to grace the screen with his talent, but this film is also equally spread amongst Goode as Lewis and Liv Lisa Fries as Freud’s daughter, Anna. The two rotate in their screen time with Hopkins, balancing out his pained and curmudgeon attitude. The sharpness of Freud’s lectures and written works isn’t quite the focus of the film, but his wit and curiosity, and flaws are ever-present. This pairs well with Lewis’s innocent propensity to push, an approach that covers his own trauma as a veteran of the British Army, while Anna carries a weight of her own – that of a lesbian forced to hide in the waning sight of her father. Anna’s burden is her awareness that her father is responsible for pushing society to reckon with its ideas on sexuality and gender all while also maintaining his own familial shame. Goode and Fries carry the shared space with Hopkins well and it’s a joy to watch the dynamics develop. 

In less than two hours, the film shifts methodically between trauma, physical pain, and hidden sexuality, illustrating how some burdens can be hidden better than others. Freud constantly flits with an abscess in his mouth, brought on by smoking and drinking, while desperately in need of medicine that he only trusts his daughter to deliver. This same daughter, managing her relationship with her bigoted father, works alongside her partner, yet is the main person keeping Freud alive and comfortable. Lewis struggles with his own notions of the world amid WWII and can do very little for Freud, not that Freud wants his help anyway. The youthfulness of Lewis is on full display in contrast with that of Freud, similar to the spirit of his daughter, who would go on to write on sexuality and push acceptance even further.

Freud’s Last Session is a quiet biography, one with a small scope and large waves. Debuting during an amazing year for cinema, the film deserves to be in the conversation with some of the other great ensembles of last year. Though quite often presuming about the nature of its very core, there is no confirmation who Freud met with on this date, but we do know Freud met with a British teacher. The film still paints a safe yet fraught image of two of the larger forces in literature. Enjoy the story and hope it leads to the uplifting of more stories like that of Freud’s daughter, Anna.

Freud’s Last Session is currently playing in select theaters courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics. The film is also available on Digital platforms. 

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPJM9lEMyV4]