FREUD
Starring Montgomery Clift, directed by John Huston

Oh the stories about this film! Director John Huston was well known as a tough, even sadistic taskmaster. Some have blamed him for Clark Gable’s death just a few weeks after completing the exhausting Huston-directed THE MISFITS in 1960, or for Audrey Hepburn’s broken back after being thrown from a horse while shooting THE UNFORGIVEN.

Stories abound of Huston’s harsh and cruel treatment of fragile, troubled Montgomery Clift (also a survivor of THE MISFITS) during the making of FREUD.

Not yet released to video (inexplicably) this superb, intelligent film is extremely rare, showing up occasionally on satellite TV, where I was able to obtain it from a friend. Please Paramount; let’s have a commercial release!

FREUD is of course the biography of Sigmund Freud, the ‘father of modern psychiatry’. While I am no advocate of Freud’s theories, this film is a balanced perspective of five formative years in his early career, told with cinematic artistry, a great intelligent script and superb acting. In fact, Clift should’ve been nominated for an Oscar for this one.

A troubled young woman (beautifully played by the beautiful Susannah York) becomes the catalyst in the second half of the film, for Freud to devise his theories about sexuality, neuroses, etc. while at the same time examining his own life and coming to terms with his own troubles.

The story plays out brilliantly, almost like a detective story, and Huston (who also provides a few distinct narrative voice-overs) keeps us guessing and interested.

This is another film I’ve waited years to see and I was not disappointed. I love Monty Clift’s acting and he is as good as ever in what must have been an extremely challenging, difficult and tortuous role for him.

At 139 minutes, there is plenty of time to play through the plot complexities without having to cut corners.

While some might say FREUD is a bit talky, I would be obliged to counter with ‘you can’t portray complex psychological issues, discoveries, formulas and ideas without literate, intelligent language and outstanding acting!’

As far as I’m concerned, this film never flounders. It’s a near-masterpiece that we must rescue from the vaults and bring back before the public.

Jon Ted Wynne