Characters On The Couch

How a psychologist thinks about your favorite Film & TV characters.

desperation

COLD WAR
Zula’s Shame Versus
Wiktor’s Desperation
An Impossible Love

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“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 …

Read moreCOLD WAR
Zula’s Shame Versus
Wiktor’s Desperation
An Impossible Love

CAPERNAUM
Desperation & Heartbreak Of An Abused & Neglected Boy
Finding A Voice

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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 …

Read moreCAPERNAUM
Desperation & Heartbreak Of An Abused & Neglected Boy
Finding A Voice