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Characters On The Couch

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

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sandra e. cohen

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
Neflix's Love A Dance of Insecurities Obstacles to Making Love Work

NETFLIX’S LOVE
A Dance Of Insecurities
Obstacles to Making Love Work

June 23, 2016 by Dr. Sandra E. Cohen

Is it real? What does it take to make love work? Netflix’s Love by Judd Apatow, Paul Rust, and Leslie Arfin raises some important questions. What takes an attraction farther than a romantic fantasy? What allows two people who’ve been hurt in the past to get beyond the fear of being hurt again? Sometimes we don’t …

Read moreNETFLIX’S LOVE
A Dance Of Insecurities
Obstacles to Making Love Work
Losing Ground When a call to Mama is unanswered

LOSING GROUND
When A Call For ‘Mama’
Is Unanswered

May 4, 2016 by Dr. Sandra E. Cohen

What is lurking below the surface of a highly intellectualized philosophy professor’s emotional control? We find out in Losing Ground, filmed in 1982 but recently released by Milestone Films, noteworthy for being the first feature-length film produced and directed by a Black American woman. Kathleen Collins, who died an early death of cancer in 1988, …

Read moreLOSING GROUND
When A Call For ‘Mama’
Is Unanswered
Carol The Questions & Answers Love Can Bring

CAROL
The Questions &Answers
Love Can Bring

April 11, 2016 by Dr. Sandra E. Cohen

Carol, directed by Todd Haynes, starring Cate Blanchett as Carol and Rooney Mara as Therese, is a story of love. More deeply, though, Carol is a story about why we’re drawn to love a certain person. In each attraction, something missing is sensed and desired in the other. Love can bring us to ourselves in a …

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The Questions &Answers
Love Can Bring
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 …

Read moreTHE LOOK OF SILENCE
Why A Replacement Child
Must Face His Brother’s Death
Psychology of the Oscars 2016 And the Winner Is ...?

PSYCHOLOGY OF THE OSCARS 2016
And The Winners Are …?

February 28, 2016 by Dr. Sandra E. Cohen

I am a psychoanalyst who loves my work. I am also intrigued by what the characters in film can tell us about real human problems. This season, I’ve closely watched and written about all the Best Picture Nominees for the Oscars 2016. I’ve also written pieces on several of the nominated documentaries and some of the films with nominated actors and actresses. …

Read morePSYCHOLOGY OF THE OSCARS 2016
And The Winners Are …?
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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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