Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalysis It was one of the phenomena that had the most influence in the history of psychology. However, its influences go much further and over the decades they have been reflected in all kinds of forms of artistic expression.
Cinema inspired by psychoanalysis is a good example of this: the language of the seventh art is perfect for capturing powerful images of a dreamlike nature that remain engraved on the retina. That is why films inspired by psychoanalysis They are a good way to see how symbology can be used in new ways to express psychological phenomena.
Below you can see a selection of films influenced by psychoanalysis that, in one way or another, reflect the ideas and beliefs of Freud and his followers about the unconscious.
1. A dangerous method
More than an example of cinema inspired by the work of Freud, it is directly part of the movies dealing with psychoanalysis and the beginning of the psychodynamic current. In it, both Sigmund Freud and Carl G. Jung appear, sharing the spotlight with Sabina Spielrein (Keira Nightley), a patient who later ended up working as a therapist.
This film shows how theories about the unconscious mind became popular and were exported to the rest of the Western world.
2. An Andalusian dog
One of the classics of European cinema, by the Spanish director Luis Buñuel. Despite not exactly being a film about psychoanalysis, as it is too short to be considered a feature film, This work exudes surrealism everywhere and uses a dreamlike atmosphere to create powerful images. Freud’s influence on this imagery is undeniable, for example, in the moment in which it is represented that an eye is cut, implying that a step is taken towards what lies beyond appearances and conventions.
A story about the sacrifices that must be made to achieve perfection and the consequences that this leaves on mental health. Natalie Portman plays a ballet dancer who, to achieve her life’s goal, must transform into the black swan, leaving her innocence and fragility behind. This effort will make her feel increasingly detached from the reality that she had learned to interpret while maintaining a discreet profile.
4. Surviving Life
A curious comedy directed by Jan Švankmajer about a married man who He has a double life in his dreams, with which surrealism runs rampant through its frames. The scenes, produced from montages with pieces of photographs, make it a visually very striking work.
5. Eraser head
As in practically all of David Lynch’s films, there is no objective plot in this work. However, there are components in which the influence of psychoanalysis is clearly noticeable: the presence of a moral burden related to a disabled and malformed child an oppressive environment and all kinds of ideas that are expressed ambiguously through extraordinary events.
6. Shame
Freudian psychoanalysis has always placed great emphasis on sexuality, to the point where it occupies a central role in the theory of psychological development proposed by Freud. In Shame, which tells the story of a man who channels his frustrations through sexual relations this idea resonates in the background throughout the entire film.
7.Marquis
In this film directed by French filmmaker Henri Xhonneux, the story of the Marquis de Sade’s confinement in the Bastille is told. Both sex and surrealism used to explain fantasies and dreams, as well as some significant amounts of cheeky humor They join hands in a story that, to be told, uses costumes designed by illustrator Roland Topor.
One of the defining films of David Cronenberg’s cinema. This talks about the role of screens as means through which project their own fantasies that, from Freudian theory, remain hidden in the unconscious and emerge in subtle ways to try to satisfy primary needs.
The link between technology and the human body is blurred, suggesting that even what seems to be the result of rationality is actually the product of deeply irrational forces.
9. The science of sleep
The protagonist of this film tries to escape from his reality taking refuge in your dreams a universe in which almost anything is possible and that will allow you to act as if you had no responsibilities and a public image to uphold.
10. Canine
The process of acculturation and socialization has an important role in psychoanalysis, since in addition to providing education and means through which to survive, the family comes hand in hand with a series of norms that conflict with basic drives
Canino is an experiment carried out in fiction that shows what would happen if the system of meanings and the protection model were focused entirely on the family, without taking anything else into account. Specifically, the story is told of young people who have been educated since childhood not to go beyond the limits of the home garden.
11. The mole
El Topo is surely Alejandro Jodorowsky’s best-known audiovisual work, and of course it is greatly influenced by the themes that are usually treated from the psychoanalytic conception of the mind. Specifically, in this film the sexuality expressed in a violent way
Although it is fairly conventional for a David Lynch film, this work is strongly influenced by the oneirism that characterized the first forms of psychoanalysis In fact, the director of this work has already said several times that his works (or at least part of them) are there to be freely interpreted.
13. Fight Club
Being one of the most famous films of the late 90s, one of the characteristics of this work that has had the most impact is its iconography and the crude way of transmitting its messages. However, something that often escapes about this film is the fact that Tyler Durden, even though he is characterized as what the protagonist wants to be, is actually just embodies the neuroses and vulnerabilities of the protagonist a man in the midst of an identity crisis who creates an activist and rebellious pretext to get involved in destructive acts because he suffers from all kinds of insecurities.
14. Take Shelter
This is one of the most recent films inspired by psychoanalysis It tells about a father who, fearing the consequences of a natural disaster, begins to plan the construction of a bunker while beginning to see signs of the disaster everywhere, to the incomprehension of his family and neighbors. The neuroticism of the protagonist is expressed in great detail.
15. My Winnipeg
A mockumentary about Winnipeg, the town where the director of this work (Guy Maddin) lives. The premise is simple, but deceptive: this film is an exercise in surrealism that leaves viewers with their mouths open and in which It is difficult to recognize what is real and what is a dream
