Characters on the Couch
Film & Television Blog
by Dr. Sandra Cohen
INTRODUCTION TO DYING FOR SEX: Scared to Feel After Sexual Abuse
Dying for Sex is certainly about sex. Yet, sex isn’t the heart of it. Dying for Sex is about being scared to feel after sexual abuse and how one dying woman finds her voice. Yes, Molly is scared to feel. But feelings aren’t all she has blocked. Along with them, she’s lost access to knowing…
THE BRUTALIST: Severe Trauma & Complicated Guilt
Why do so many people who’ve suffered severe trauma live with complicated guilt? Guilt that has nothing to do with anything they’ve actually done? Or, like László Tóth in Brady Corbet’s 2025 The Brutalist – guilt about lesser things that is blown way out of proportion? This irrational guilt is because trauma involves unfair blame,…
NICKEL BOYS: Holding On to Your Self Even When Abused
How do you hold onto yourself amid threat, abuse, and constant attempts to make you feel “less than?” Elwood Curtis does, in RaMell Ross’s powerful, disturbing, and timely 2024 film, Nickel Boys. Abuse can tear a person down. Create hopelessness, despair, and resignation. Repeated abuse, with no way to protect yourself, makes it difficult for…
