Review of Der junge Freud

I saw this film recently (30 May 2000) and was greatly impressed. It is far and away the best film on Freud I have ever seen. As it was originally filmed for Austrian television it is extremely grainy (and in b & w) which gives a very believable quality to its historicity. The script is intelligent and both broadly and well informed about Freud's life and writings. The importance of his Jewishness is portrayed unflinchingly. Delicate matters, such as his confrontation with homosexuality in himself and other men is represented more efficiently and profoundly than any number of books on the subject. The director and writer have bravely avoided making the man a Saint or a Hero -he emerges as ambitious and not a little obsessed by the need to understand himself and others. The film is very moving, beautifully shot and acted, and deserves a much wider audience in the U.S. Thanks to the Film Forum in New York for giving it a showing.