A daughter’s devotion

Last month I got to attend the pre-screening of Freud's Last Session at the Freud Museum London. This was my second visit to the museum, the first being with my PgCert Counselling study group a few years ago. As this was a Press Night, it was an opportunity for a 'different' experience of the museum; a drinks reception, conversations with psychology professionals and a guided tour which concluded upstairs where the screening was to take place (notably next door to his daughter Anna Freud's bedroom). We learnt that it was Sigmund Freud's son, Ernst, an architect, who located the house in London; their primary residence being Austria, now known as the Freud Museum Vienna, where they endured Nazi persecution.

The film is set in Freud's room (on the ground floor of the museum), and finds Sigmund Freud, played by the brilliant Sir Anthony Hopkins, suffering from jaw cancer and particularly broken by the knowledge of his beloved dogs reeling at the stench of his rotting flesh. He has retired from conducting therapy, but for one client; C. S. Lewis (Matthew Goode), prior to his Narnia fame. This isn't your usual therapy session, however. Instead, a debate on the existence of God (and life and death, given Freud's impending demise), ensues. To fit the stereotype, it's Freud the atheist scientist, and Lewis the Christian philosopher. Of course, today we know that science and religion can co-exist (see this interview with Fraser Watts). 

Whilst this is the premise of Freud's Last Session, the depiction of Freud's relationship with his youngest daughter, Anna Freud (German actress, Liv Lisa Fries) was the most poignant to me. I too was the youngest daughter, and my own father passed away two years ago. The references to Anna's gay relationship with her live-in colleague, Dorothy Burlingham (Jodi Balfour), seemed trivial in comparison, although of course evidence of the times they lived in. For example, in the film, to Dorothy's dismay, Anna prioritises her father's wants and needs over their own on several occasions, even in dire circumstances. 

Freud coined the term 'psychoanalysis' the year Anna was born. As psychology students will know, it is Anna that stood by her father and his work in later years, pioneered the field of Child Psychoanalysis, and founded the Hampstead clinic, now the well-known Anna Freud Centre for Children and Families. The museum also reveals that Anna lived at the house for around 44 years, much longer than her father who only visited at brief intervals, and then to escape World War Two during his illness. Despite this, Anna decided to make the house a museum in memory of her father's life and legacy with the support of a US charity in 1986. Freud's study and desk is known for his meticulous placement of ornaments, books and paintings and it is intriguing to see how Anna ensured this was preserved. 

Though a fictional film, Freud's Last Session is arguably autobiographical, as it is said that Freud met with an Oxford don mere weeks before he died by morphine on Yom Kippur, 23 September 1939, as administered by his doctor, Dr Schur (Peter Warnock). It is also understood that Anna consented to her father's euthanasia, and was present at the time of his passing, at their London home. Whilst some of this may be speculation, one real message stood out: how far would you go to show devotion to a loved one? 

• Reviewed by Chrissie Fitch, Associate Editor for Culture; Twitter: @fitchyc_psych
• Tickets to exclusive film screening at Freud Museum London on 8 August 2024 can be purchased here.