COTC-Header-1600-x-800_crop 5_00000_crop

Characters on the Couch
Film & Television Blog

by Dr. Sandra Cohen

LEAVE NO TRACE
What Happens When Trust
Is Shattered?

Debra Granik’s Leave No Trace is a story about trauma and distrust. That might not be the most obvious thing in this compelling film about a Vietnam Vet and his 13-year-old daughter who live in hiding in a park forest outside Portland, Oregon. But for me, as a psychoanalyst, it is the film’s heart. Will…

Read More about LEAVE NO TRACE What Happens When TrustIs Shattered?

OPERATION FINALE
One Man’s Holocaust Trauma
Helped Capture Adolf Eichmann

Peter Zvi Malkin’s Holocaust trauma worked in his favor to capture Adolf Eichmann, Hitler’s Chief Executioner; Head of the SS Office of Jewish Affairs, and the Architect of the Final Solution. At least that’s the Hollywood version of the story. It makes sense as PTSD goes. And, although Chris Weitz’s Operation Finale invented the dialogue…

Read More about OPERATION FINALE One Man’s Holocaust Trauma Helped Capture Adolf Eichmann

CRAZY RICH ASIANS
How To Be The Winner
Over A Boyfriend’s Mother’s Envy

Jon Chu’s Crazy Rich Asians is about crazy wealth. But it’s really about so much more. It’s about the clashes between old money and new; privilege and disadvantage; American-born Asians and those calling Asia home; between following passion and giving into duty. Mostly it’s about a boyfriend’s mother’s envy. And, at the film’s center, we…

Read More about CRAZY RICH ASIANS How To Be The Winner Over A Boyfriend’s Mother’s Envy