(No record of where
and when printed)
Sigmund Freud (1856-1939), father of
psychoanalysis, was unquestionably one of the great revolutionary thinkers of
the 20th century. The impact of his remarkable ideas on all our
lives ranks with that of Copernicus and Darwin; yet little is known of Freud
the man or his theories. What precisely was he – scientist, philosopher, artist
or mystic? What special influences in his own life led him to produce a body of
thought so radical that it was in effect a brand new discipline?
Freud was suspicious of biography, considering its
authors generally too idealistic in approach: “They obliterate the individual
features of their subject’s physiognomy; they smooth over the traces of his
life’s struggles with internal and external resistances, and they tolerate in
him no vestige of human weakness or imperfection. They thus present us with
what is in fact a cold, strange, ideal figure instead of a human being to whom
we might feel distantly related.”
This major new drama serial, written by Carey
Harrison, presents the life, work and ideas of Sigmund Freud in an
authoritative and uniquely candid portrait that strives to avoid the kind of
idealization which the subject himself abhorred. It reveals, among other
things, an important aspect of Freud’s life which successive biographers have
discreetly skirted around: namely, his relationship with his wife’s sister,
Minna Bernays. As with the other passionate friendships in his life – Breuer,
von Fleidchl-Marxow, Fleiss, Jung - Freud’s association with Minna is a
bitter-sweet episode that affected him deeply and which he struggled to
understand.
Daily, for over 50 years, in an abiding quest for
clues to his own behaviour, Freud reserved a quiet hour for self-analysis, a
practice he continued until the end. The drama invites us to join the old man
in Maresfield Gardens, London, as he reflects on the significant moments of his
life for the last time.
David Suchet heads a large and distinguished cast
as Freud. With Helen Bourne as Martha, Suzanne Bertish (Minna), Anton Lesser
(Fliess), Michael Kitchen (Fleischl), David Swift (Breuer), Michael Pennington
(Jung) and Dinsdale Landen (Charcot).
‘Freud’ is a BBC Television production made in
association with RCTV. Directed by Moira Armstrong and produced by John Purdie,
it includes location filming in Austria and Italy.
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