WHEN NIETZSCHE WEPT

WHEN NIETZSCHE WEPT WELL WORTH CRYING OVER
What a lovely surprise I've found! In living color, everything may be an illusion, but this film is one beautiful illusion. First I will caution you; this film is based on the real life events concerning the beginning of psychotherapy as we know it today, it is long and pensive and it contains an almost unknown cast. It isn't a film for everyone and certainly much more thoughtful and deep than many movies I see. That aside, it is visually stunning and contains wildly surreal dream sequences that jump out from the screen. But, I've gotten ahead of myself. Yes, it is a film about Friedrich Nietzsche (an unrecognisable Armand Assante) and the time of melancholy he succumbed to before finding his way to writing perhaps one of his best known works, Thus Spoke Zarathustra. Assante is in excellent form and it's a shame this film is not better known. ALL of his dialogue is from Nietzsche's actual works. He is "set up" by Louise Salome, a friend who believes that Nietzsche is suicidal and feels that his mind is so brilliant that he needs intervention from a much respected doctor in Vienna, Dr. Josef Breuer, who happens to have a little friend about 25 years old, called Sigmund Freud. Dr. Breuer and "Ziggy" devise a plan to get Nietzsche to think he is helping the doctor with his "problems"; perhaps the first use of reverse psychology. But alas, the doctor is in for quite a surprise! This is the beginning of the use of the "talking cure" which was the cornerstone for Freud and psychotherapy. How interesting to see where ideas originated and become introduced to a world very deep in scholarly exploration. Although this is not an action movie by any means, the dream sequences are reminiscent of the Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, using very vivid colors and wildly entertaining, borderline-slapstick, zany acting. It is a period piece and the costumes, more specifically Salome's costumes are beautiful and radiant. If you have interest in a thoughtful and well done film, then look no further. Pay close attention because everything has purpose and to see it come together as it does in the end is fine work by all.
Pick: A high-brow must see film; thoughtful, interesting and visually stunning