Characters on the Couch
Film & Television Blog
by Dr. Sandra Cohen
LEO HURWITZ’S PSYCHOANALYST SISTERS
Marie H. Briehl and Rosetta Hurwitz
Pioneers in Child Psychoanalysis
Leo Hurwitz was a pioneer in the development of the documentary film in America, but he wasn’t the only pioneer in the Hurwitz family. His older sisters Rosetta (Rose) and Marie were pioneers in bringing child psychoanalysis to the United States. They were among the first child analysts to train with Anna Freud in Vienna…
THE BIG SICK
If You Can’t Break Old Rules
It Can Make You Sick
The Big Sick, Emily V. Gordon, and Kumail Nanjiani’s touching, sad, scary, and deeply heart-warming romantic comedy tells us a lot about those old rules you live by. They’re not so easy to break. They turn into “should-s,” carry terrible guilt; they make you scared. And, along with all that, they confuse you. Particularly when…
LEO HURWITZ
A Pioneer In The Beginnings Of America’s Documentary Film Part 3
A Radical Filmmaker In The Making
“Leo Hurwitz’s task in life: creating and practicing the documentary film tied intrinsically to the quest for human freedom, liberation, equality, and truth.” Tom Hurwitz, Leo’s son. In 1926, Leo went to Harvard. This was quite an achievement for the Jewish son of working-class immigrants. Yet remarkably in line with the family’s intrinsic belief in, equality.…
