Freud's Last Session (2023)

This is one more movie that has an elderly man as the main character, acting as a vehicle for the great Anthony Hopkins to perform in yet another movie and show the breadth and depth of his talent. The central premise of this movie is based on a great piece of speculative fiction. That two figures, Sigmund Freud and C.S. Lewis, so diametrically opposed should cross paths, is is the old cliché of the irresistible and the immovable. It’s a few days after the start of World War 2 and Freud is in his London chambers locked in a good-natured verbal stoush with author C.S Lewis (a very good Matthew Goode) over why he insists on the existence of God, along with a few asides. It is a lengthy, varied conversation that balances friendly chat, intellectual discussion, and verbal fencing match. The primary conflict is between Lewis’ position as a Christian apologist and Freud’s as a longstanding atheist. Even when they speak of other things, the divergence of faith with disbelief seeps into all their discussions. These differences eventually give way to arguments and accusations, which bring out both men’s secrets, past traumas, and hidden fears heightened by Freud’s terminal illness and considerations of suicide. The script explores the possible sources of two very different views of the world. In addition to their disagreement about faith is the inescapable conclusion that Freud is dependent on his daughter Anna, to her great disadvantage, and his obliviousness extends to denying it to be true when confronted with it directly also checks out with what is thought to be true and not true about his work today.