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Characters On The Couch

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

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Brooklyn How Love Heals Homesickness & A Difficult Mother

BROOKLYN
How Love Heals Homesickness
& A Difficult Mother

January 3, 2020 by Dr. Sandra E. Cohen

Has it really been 4 years since John Crowley and Nick Hornby’s film, Brooklyn, hit the big screen? And, why is it still a movie that speaks to us and that we keep going back to? Is it because it’s the versatile and talented Saorise Ronan’s first major film? Or because we all know, somewhere …

Read moreBROOKLYN
How Love Heals Homesickness
& A Difficult Mother
The Look of Silence Why A Replacement Child Must Face His Brother's Death

THE LOOK OF SILENCE
Why A Replacement Child
Must Face His Brother’s Death

March 24, 2016 by Dr. Sandra E. Cohen

Joshua Oppenheimer’s 2016 Oscar-nominated documentary, The Look Of Silence, is a riveting exploration of the Indonesian genocide’s complicated psychological aftermath. In 1965-1967, the military dictatorship killed over a million assumed Communists opposed to their rule. In the film, we follow the Rukun family, centered on 44-year-old Adi, all unable to grieve the brutal murder of …

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Why A Replacement Child
Must Face His Brother’s Death
The Martian Trauma of Abandonment Self-Sufficiency or Human Connection?

THE MARTIAN
Trauma Of Abandonment
Self-Sufficiency Or Connection?

February 27, 2016 by Dr. Sandra E. Cohen

Director Ridley Scott’s film, The Martian, tells the story of NASA astronaut Mark Watney’s (Matt Damon) accidental abandonment on the barren planet of Mars. Early childhood abandonment also creates a desolate emotional landscape. People can’t be trusted. Hope is fractured. On Mars, Mark has two things to turn to 1. distasteful music of Commander Lewis’ …

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Trauma Of Abandonment
Self-Sufficiency Or Connection?
Bridge of Spies A Standing Man How Integrity Triumphs Over Fear

BRIDGE OF SPIES
A Standing Man
How Integrity Triumphs Over Fear

February 26, 2016 by Dr. Sandra E. Cohen

Steven Spielberg’s powerful film, Bridge of Spies, asks some compelling psychological questions. Could there be two more different men than a Brooklyn lawyer in 1957 at the height of the Cold War and an alleged Russian spy – or are they different at all? And, if they aren’t, what is it exactly that forms an unexpected …

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A Standing Man
How Integrity Triumphs Over Fear
Steve Jobs What Happens To A Baby When No One Says Hello

STEVE JOBS
What Happens To A Baby
When No One Says Hello?

February 23, 2016 by Dr. Sandra E. Cohen

Steve Jobs is a brilliantly conceived and emotionally revealing film by screenwriter Aaron Sorkin and director Danny Boyle. According to both, this film is a human story, not a biopic. I agree. As we get to know Jobs through the filmmakers’ eyes and Michael Fassbender’s performance, we learn the heartbreaking roots of Steve Jobs’ controlling …

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What Happens To A Baby
When No One Says Hello?
TRUMBO The Dynamics of Fear It's Ravages Ruins & Undoing

TRUMBO & The Dynamics Of Fear
It’s Ravages, Ruins, & Undoing

December 14, 2015 by Dr. Sandra E. Cohen

“Now the truth of the matter is that there are a lot of things people don’t understand. Take the Einstein theory. Taxes. Love. Do you understand them? Neither do I. But they exist. They happen.” – Dalton Trumbo Dalton Trumbo is right. Things we don’t understand do happen. And, some things we don’t understand invoke …

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It’s Ravages, Ruins, & Undoing
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Inspiration

“We come to Film and TV to find our hidden stories. If we look deeply into a character’s psyche, there is much to see about ourselves.”

Recent Posts

Everything Everywhere All At Once Breaking Out of Someone Else's Box
Nomadland: A Lonely Nomad in the Land of Loss
The Power of the Dog Why Phil Burbank’s Cruelty is About What He Hates in Himself
SOUND OF METAL How Silence Stops A Man From Running

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