• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Catholic Review

Catholic Review

Inspiring the Archdiocese of Baltimore

Menu
  • Home
  • News
        • Local News
        • World News
        • Vatican News
        • Obituaries
        • Featured Video
        • En Español
        • Sports News
        • Official Clergy Assignments
        • Schools News
  • Commentary
        • Contributors
          • Question Corner
          • George Weigel
          • Elizabeth Scalia
          • Michael R. Heinlein
          • Effie Caldarola
          • Guest Commentary
        • CR Columnists
          • Archbishop William E. Lori
          • Rita Buettner
          • Christopher Gunty
          • George Matysek Jr.
          • Mark Viviano
          • Father Joseph Breighner
          • Father Collin Poston
          • Robyn Barberry
          • Hanael Bianchi
          • Amen Columns
  • Entertainment
        • Events
        • Movie & Television Reviews
        • Arts & Culture
        • Books
        • Recipes
  • About Us
        • Contact Us
        • Our History
        • Meet Our Staff
        • Photos to own
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • CR Media platforms
        • Electronic Edition
  • Advertising
  • Shop
        • Purchase Photos
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • Magazine Subscriptions
        • Archdiocesan Directory
  • CR Radio
        • CR Radio
        • Protagonistas de Fe
  • News Tips
  • Subscribe
Anthony Hopkins as Sigmund Freud and Matthew Goode as C.S. Lewis star in a scene from the movie “Freud’s Last Session.” The OSV News classification is A-III -- adults. The Motion Picture Association rating is PG-13 – parents strongly cautioned. Some material may not be suitable for children. (OSV News photo/Sabrina Lantos, courtesy Sony Pictures Classics)

Movie Review: ‘Freud’s Last Session’

December 13, 2023
By John Mulderig
Filed Under: Movie & Television Reviews

Share
Share on Facebook
Share
Share this
Pin
Pin this
Share
Share on LinkedIn

NEW YORK (OSV News) – What might have happened had the resolutely atheist father of psychoanalysis met the Christian author and apologist who created Narnia? The literate philosophical drama “Freud’s Last Session” (Sony Pictures Classics) speculates on just such an encounter with intriguing, though ultimately unsatisfying, results.

Invited to visit prickly Dr. Sigmund Freud (Anthony Hopkins) at the London home where he has taken refuge from the Nazis, buttoned-up Oxford don C.S. Lewis (Matthew Goode) arrives there on the historic autumn day Britain declared war against Hitler’s Germany in 1939. In between monitoring the news on the radio, the two engage in a prolonged theological debate.

Director and co-writer Matthew Brown’s adaptation of his script collaborator Mark St. Germain’s play – itself derived from the book “The Question of God” by Armand Nicholi – uses the ensuing discussion as a jumping off point for exploring the duo’s disparate life experiences. Lewis, for instance, recalls his emotionally absent father while Freud remembers how forceful his dad was.

The screenplay also examines Freud’s highly complicated relationship with his daughter, and professional heir, Anna (Liv Lisa Fries). One ironic aspect of their intense but tangled connection is Freud’s disapproval of Anna’s romance with her colleague Dorothy Burlingham (Jodi Balfour). Though Freud’s view of sexuality was famously indulgent, this didn’t, apparently, apply to Anna.

The discreet but sympathetic presentation of Anna’s love life, which implicitly points to Freud’s hypocrisy on the subject, is balanced by the fact that Lewis is not demonized for his moral objection to all same-sex activity. This is of a piece with the traditional, scripturally-based view of marriage he espouses.

Sober in tone and weighty in its subject matter – Freud is facing imminent death from jaw cancer – the picture is more intent on laying out the arguments than guiding viewers toward any conclusion. While both sides get a fair hearing, the wrap-up, although dramatically well-rounded, feels intellectually incomplete.

What, some moviegoers may wonder, was the point of the whole exercise? On the upside, at least the two principals maintain an air of mutual respect and enjoy some humorous moments together. Overall, this is unusually intelligent fare, though some may find it a bit talky and – an interlude set in the trenches of World War I aside – somewhat stagebound.

The film contains mature themes, including lesbianism and suicide, a combat sequence with some gore, brief sensuality, at least one use of profanity, several milder oaths and a crass expression. The OSV News classification is A-III — adults. The Motion Picture Association rating is PG-13 — parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

Read More Movie & TV Reviews

Videogame Review: ‘Clair Obscur: Expedition 33’

superman

Movie Review: ‘Superman’

sorry baby

Movie Review: ‘Sorry, Baby’

Jurassic World Rebirth

Movie Review: ‘Jurassic World Rebirth’

Movie Review: ‘M3GAN 2.0’

Home viewing roundup: What’s available to stream and what’s on horizon

Print Print

Share
Share on Facebook
Share
Share this
Pin
Pin this
Share
Share on LinkedIn

Primary Sidebar

John Mulderig

View all posts from this author

For the latest news delivered twice a week via email or text message, sign up to receive our free enewsletter.

| MOST POPULAR |

  • Hunt Valley parishioner recalls her former student – a future pope

  • superman Movie Review: ‘Superman’

  • Deacon Gary Elliott Dumer Jr., active in men’s ministry, dies

  • Father Robert Wojsław dies at 52

  • Loyola University Maryland graduate ordained Jesuit priest

| CURRENT EDITION |

CR digital edition

| Vatican News |

Filled with hope, Christians know cries of the innocent will be heard, pope says

Pope calls for ceasefire, dialogue, peace after church hit in Gaza

Stop the hatred; humanity is at stake, Pope Leo says in video message

New Catholic scouting patch honors Pope Leo XIV

Pope Leo visits Italian Carabinieri station, Poor Clares during summer break

| Catholic Review Radio |

CatholicReview · Catholic Review Radio

| Movie & Television Reviews |

Videogame Review: ‘Clair Obscur: Expedition 33’

superman

Movie Review: ‘Superman’

sorry baby

Movie Review: ‘Sorry, Baby’

Jurassic World Rebirth

Movie Review: ‘Jurassic World Rebirth’

Movie Review: ‘M3GAN 2.0’

| En español |

‘No tengan miedo de hacer lo que El Señor quiere para nosotros’

Dios quiere ayudar a las personas a descubrir su valor y dignidad, dice el Papa

El ‘Padre Migrante’ nos relata su vida sirviendo a comunidades inmigrantes

El ‘Obispo Bruce’ forjó fuertes lazos con Baltimore en tiempos difíciles y tenía corazón de pastor

El Papa León comienza su pontificado pidiendo una ‘Iglesia unida’ en un mundo herido

Footer

Our Vision

Real Life. Real Faith. 

Catholic Review Media communicates the Gospel and its impact on people’s lives in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and beyond.

Our Mission

Catholic Review Media provides intergenerational communications that inform, teach, inspire and engage Catholics and all of good will in the mission of Christ through diverse forms of media.

Contact

Catholic Review
320 Cathedral Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
443-524-3150
mail@CatholicReview.org

 

Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Recent

  • Quo Vadis attracts biggest crowd ever, promotes camaraderie and faith
  • Three dead, Holy Family Gaza pastor injured after mid-morning Israeli attack
  • Proof of life for kidnapped Nigerian priest received by Alaska diocese where he served
  • Filled with hope, Christians know cries of the innocent will be heard, pope says
  • Pope calls for ceasefire, dialogue, peace after church hit in Gaza
  • School club gives students chance to benefit veterans, fosters Gospel value of serving others
  • Top Republican appears to walk back probe of Catholic entities amid charged committee hearing
  • Mahmoud v. Taylor: A Supreme Court victory for parents, freedom
  • Church leaders, faithful in procession to Detroit ICE office call for just immigration policies

Search

Membership

Catholic Media Assocation

Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association

The Associated Church Press

© 2025 CATHOLIC REVIEW MEDIA, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

en Englishes Spanish
en en