Freud, also known as Freud: the Life of a Dream, (1984) is a
BBC television serial based on the life and times of Austrian psychoanalyst
Sigmund Freud.
David Suchet stars as Freud. The 6-part production is 360 minutes in duration.
Episodes
Each episode begins with Freud and his family in
London, where they had fled from
Vienna in 1938 following the Nazi
Anschluss, leading up to Freud's death a little over a year later in 1939. The rest of each episode is told mainly in
flashbacks to key moments in Freud's life and career.
"In the Name of the Gods": Ailing Sigmund Freud, his wife
Martha, and daughter
Anna settle into a new home in London after being forced to flee Austria. Flashbacks recall Freud's early professional life, ambitions to do important work, and engagement to Martha, whose sister Minna is also engaged. Freud experiments with cocaine as a cure for morphine addiction and other uses, prompted especially by his relationship with
Ernst von Fleischl-Marxow.
"The Hypnotist": Freud goes to Paris to study with
Jean-Marin Charcot, who has been experimenting with
hypnosis to treat patients with "
hysterical"
neuroses. Returning to Vienna, his advocacy of Charcot's techniques is largely rejected, especially by his superior,
Theodor Meynert. With the aid of
Josef Breuer he begins to use hypnosis to treat patients, in particular the (fictional) Baroness von Lieben. His work leads him to begin investigating the role of dreams and
repression of memories.
"The Secret of Dreams": Through his practice, self-examination, and friendships with
Wilhelm Fliess and Breuer, Freud develops his concepts of the
unconscious and the role of
desire, beginning to posit
sexuality as a source of psychic conflict and to develop his "
seduction theory."
"Madonna": When Freud's concept of
child sexuality and the seduction theory are rejected by his colleagues, including Breuer, he finds himself isolated. As Martha tends to the home and their growing family, Freud engages more with Martha's sister Minna, whose own fiancé had died. At first rejecting his brother Alexander's suggestion that he travel to Italy and
Rome, mainly because of the Catholic Church's history of J
ewish persecution, Freud relents. Traveling with Alexander and later with Minna, his observations of the many images of the
Madonna and child and memories of incidents from his own childhood lead him to propose the concept of the
Oedipus complex and abandon the seduction theory.
"Messiah": Isolated in Viennese society, Freud draws the attention of other young psychoanalysts, who come to form an
inner circle studying and arguing about the unconscious and the role of
psychoanalysis. When Freud is contacted by Swiss psychoanalyst
Carl Jung, Freud enthusiastically welcomes him and suggests that Jung will take over leadership of the group, especially since a
gentile would be more acceptable to European society than one of the other Jewish members. Freud's own fame leads to an invitation to appear at
Clark University in the United States. During the voyage and after, divisions between Freud and Jung deepen. In talks with Minna and others, Freud begins to suggest that psychoanalysis is better regarded as a philosophy than as a science as such.
"The World as Dream": The episode alternates between flashbacks to earlier scenes and the dying Freud in London, now increasingly in pain from cancer and from the
prosthetic jaw he wears due to an earlier operation. Scenes recount moments with von Fleischel-Marxow, Fliess, Breuer, Meynert, Martha and Minna, and others leading to the final split with Jung and the last moments in Vienna before leaving. At the end, Freud's doctor fulfills a promise to administer a dose of
morphine that will end his pain and his life.