Freud's Last Session is a 2023 British-American historical drama/biopic film directed by Matthew Brown. It stars Anthony Hopkins, Matthew Goode and Liv Lisa Fries.
On the eve of World War II, a dying Sigmund Freud (Hopkins) who's living in exile in London since 1938, has a visit from C. S. Lewis (Goode) as his daughter Anna (Fries) tries to bring him pain medicine. They discuss God's existence at length, along with other issues, while also delving into their past experiences and Anna's, with the war breaking out right in the middle.
Tropes:
- All Psychology Is Freudian: Naturally, in a film about Sigmund Freud, his theories are discussed, though not at great length.
- Bittersweet Ending: Freud dies shortly after the story ends, by his own hand to end the pain of his cancer. Lewis goes on to great success as a Christian writer however, while Anna has a long, happy life with Dorothy in the same house.
- Coming-Out Story: Near the end of the film, Anna tells Freud she's a lesbian, in a relationship with Dorothy. The Foreshadowing shows he suspected this already.
- Daddy's Girl: Anna is really close to her father Sigmund, so much that it gets discussed whether she's got an attachment disorder over the fact. She spends much of the film trying to get him pain medicine, and Freud is himself troubled over whether she's fixated on him. Anna has become a psychoanalyst like him too, which could be another sign of how much she dotes on Freud.
- Deliberate Values Dissonance: Freud is treated as unusually tolerant for saying homosexuality isn't immoral, surprising Lewis. However he still thinks it's a mental illness, as was standard for the time. Anna therefore only comes out to him as a lesbian after she has spent much time closeted, the film implies.
- Evil Stole My Faith: Lewis says as a boy he lost faith in God and Christianity after his mother died (though being sent away with his brother to England by his father afterward likely didn't help).
- The Exile: Sigmund and Anna Freud have settled in London after being forced to leave Vienna as the Nazis took over. Anna was arrested briefly by the Gestapo before they fled, with it made clear that due to being Jews they couldn't be safe there. Sigmund dies in London without ever going home. Anna would stay there the rest of her life too.
- The Film of the Book: It's based on the play of the same name.
- Flashback: Lewis and Freud's flashbacks about past events in their lives both occur. In the former case, he tells Freud of his mother's death while in Belfast as a boy, then enduring combat during World War One, later becoming friends with J. R. R. Tolkien and his conversion to Christianity. Freud has flashbacks about his life in Vienna, being forced to leave when the Nazis took over but also happier times with his family before.
- Foreshadowing: During one dream sequence Freud has, he briefly sees Anna and Dorothy in bed together wearing only their nightgowns embracing. This, along with him saying he thinks lesbianism stems from a girl's relationship with her father, foreshadows Anna revealing she's a lesbian to him.
- Lipstick Lesbian: Anna and Dorothy turn out to be lesbians. They both have feminine hairstyles, always wearing stylish 1930s blouses and skirts. It turns out they're in a relationship.
- Missing Mom: Lewis' mother died when he was a little boy, which devastated him, his brother and father. It made Lewis lose faith in God for many years.
- Not Even Bothering with the Accent: Anthony Hopkins only has the barest trace of an Austrian accent-Freud's was famously quite strong.
- Outliving One's Offspring: Freud tells Lewis about losing his other daughter years ago when she was just a young mother, which he cites as supporting there being no God.
- The Philosopher: C.S. Lewis and Sigmund Freud both are highly intelligent, well-educated men with opposing views that have a lot of philosophical insights. Lewis argues for Christianity, Freud maintains his atheism, in a long, largely friendly dialogue. Neither convinces the other, though both make good points and have a mutual respect.
- Shell-Shocked Veteran: Lewis fought in World War I, while he still has trauma due to it. While in a bomb shelter a loud sound triggers this until Freud successfully calms him.
- Suicide Is Shameful: Freud relates to Lewis that he's going to kill himself with the help of his doctor to end the pain of the cancer that's killing him. Lewis says suicide is a sin, trying to dissuade him. Freud does not change his mind though. In the epilogue it's confirmed that he did die as planned.
- Trauma Button: Lewis has some lingering PTSD due to his experience in World War One. After he goes to a bomb shelter with Freud, a loud sound triggers him due to his memories, and he has a sudden panic attack. Freud helps to calm him, bringing Lewis out of it.
- Your Days Are Numbered: Freud is dying of incurable oral cancer, as he's well aware, with it giving him great pain all during the film. He dies just twenty days after it ends, by his own hand, to end the pain.
