Characters on the Couch
Film & Television Blog
by Dr. Sandra Cohen
COLD WAR
Zula’s Shame Versus
Wiktor’s Desperation
An Impossible Love
“I knocked, I cried, she wouldn’t open up.” That is Wiktor’s torment. These lyrics begin Pawel Pawlikowski’s film Cold War and foretell the fate of Wiktor and Zula’s love. A love that never had a chance. Theirs is a war originating in Zula’s history. A history that spawned deep shame and distrust of love. Just…
CAPERNAUM
Desperation & Heartbreak Of An Abused & Neglected Boy
Finding A Voice
Zain is the face of desperation. The poster child for what neglect, abuse, poverty, and heartbreak can do. We watch Nadine Labaki’s film Capernaum – as despair, longing, anguish, the deepest of grief, emotional torture; and finally frustration and rage take over Zain’s otherwise stunning features. But, even more to the point, Zain is the…
SUMMER WITH MONIKA
(Ingmar Bergman, 1953)
Reality & Childhood Trauma
Ends An Idyllic Summer Love
Summer love on a deserted island isn’t real life. That’s the Gordian knot in Bergman’s 1953 Summer With Monika. This erotic and heartbreaking film tells the story of two adolescents caught in the throes of an idyllic love. It’s a love they both long for, given their troubled and sad early lives. And also an escape…
