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CHAPTERTITLE I
CRITICAL FLICKER FUSION
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Confederation of Independent Psychoanalytic Societies
Boundaries of Psychoanalysis Series
Series editor: Fredric Perlman
When Theories Touch: A Historical and Theoretical Integration of
Psychoanalytic Thought
Steven J. Ellman
Another Kind of Evidence: Studies on Internalization, Annihilation Anxiety,
and Progressive Symbolization in the Psychoanalytic Process
Norbert Freedman, Marvin Hurich, Rhonda Ward, Jesse D. Geller, and
Joan Hoffenberg
A New Freudian Synthesis: Clinical Process in the Next Generation
Edited by Andrew B. Druck, Carolyn S. Ellman, Norbert Freedman, and
Aaron Thaler
The Second Century of Psychoanalysis: Evolving Perspectives on
Therapeutic Action
Edited by Michael J. Diamond and Christopher Christian
Absolute Truth and Unbearable Psychic Pain: Psychoanalytic Perspectives on
Concrete Experience
Edited by Allan Frosch
Battling the Life and Death Forces of Sadomasochism: Clinical Perspectives
Edited by Harriet I. Basseches, Paula L. Ellman, and Nancy R. Goodman
From Soma to Symbol: Psychosomatic Conditions and Transformative
Experience
Edited by Phyllis L. Sloate
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CRITICAL FLICKER
FUSION
Psychoanalysis at the Movies
William Fried
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First published in 2017 by
Karnac Books Ltd
118 Finchley Road, London NW3 5HT
Copyright © 2017 to William Fried.
The right of William Fried to be identified as the author of this work has
been asserted in accordance with §§ 77 and 78 of the Copyright Design and
Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise,
without the prior written permission of the publisher.
Excerpts from Talk to Herdirected by Pedro Almodóvar reproduced with
permission of El Deseo.
Excerpt from “Cucurrucucú Paloma” by Tomás Mendoza Sosa,
interpreted by Caetano Veloso, reproduced by permission of El Deseo.
Excerpt from “Masurca Fogo”, choreography by Pina Bausch,
reproduced by permission of El Deseo
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A C.I.P. for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978 1 78220 478 7
Edited, designed and produced by The Studio Publishing Services Ltd
www.publishingservicesuk.co.uk
e-mail: [email protected]
Printed in Great Britain
www.karnacbooks.com
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CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS vii
ABOUT THE AUTHOR ix
SERIES EDITOR’S PREFACE
Fredric Perlman xi
FOREWORD
Ricardo Ainslie xvii
INTRODUCTION
The films, the method, the themes xxi
CHAPTER ONE
Secrets 1
CHAPTER TWO
Time and death 29
CHAPTER THREE
Love and lust 59
v
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vi CONTENTS
CHAPTER FOUR
Human identity 95
CHAPTER FIVE
Conclusion: critical flicker fusion 119
APPENDICES: Introduction 121
APPENDIX I
Mise-en-scène: session, film, dream 123
APPENDIX II
Whatever flames upon the night 129
APPENDIX III
Mad doctors 137
REFERENCES 143
INDEX 153
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The idea of writing psychoanalytically informed essays about films
was first suggested to me by Bennett Roth. In the early 1970s, he
invited me to participate in a group that met in his home to view and
discuss films. He also gave me the opportunity to present my work as
a panel member in a course titled “Psycho-Cinema,” coordinated at
the New School by Arthur Ross, a film historian. Among the other
panelists were Bruce Bernstein, Joel Kovel, Everett Dulit, Harvey
Greenberg, and Bennett Roth. In addition, he encouraged me to
publish an earlier version of the article about Lord of the Flies that is
included in the present volume. I owe to him the title “Gangsta angst”
for the piece on The Sopranos in this volume.
A few years later, as a staff member in the psychiatry department
of the Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, New York, I was
asked and encouraged to contribute papers and presentations about
films by William Jeffrey, who had inaugurated a chapter of the Forum
for the Psychoanalytic Study of Film at that institution. He received
strong support for these events from Marvin Lipkowitz, who was then
Chair of the Department of Psychiatry. The films were screened in a
large auditorium, and seen by audiences consisting of members of the
psychiatry staff, personnel of other hospital departments, the general
public, and a scattering of academics and film critics.
vii
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viii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Some years later, I served as a board member and officer of Section
I (Psychoanalyst Practitioners) of Division 39 (the Division of
Psychoanalysis of the American Psychological Association), where I
met Albert Brok, a psychoanalyst, film enthusiast, and scholar, who
conducted film programs under the auspices of Section I, the Training
Institute for Mental Health, and the Argentine Psychoanalytic
Association, among others. He, too, invited my participation and
contributions.
In sum, then, I wish to express my appreciation to Drs. Roth,
Jeffrey, Lipkowitz, and Brok, without whose encouragement I would
not have written the essays that comprise the chapters of this book. I
also want to thank a number of other colleagues and friends who have
supported my writing over the years. They include, Allan Frosch,
Helen Gediman, Danielle Knafo, David Lichtenstein, Robert Oelsner,
Edna Ortof, Henry Seiden, and Isaac Tylim. I am also grateful to
Fredric Perlman and Phyllis Sloate for connecting me to the CIPPS
publication process.
Finally, I owe so much to the readers whose warm responses to
my work have given me the impetus to keep writing. Among them
are Larry Balter, Arnold Breuer, Richard Cohen, Loire Cotler, Beverly
Elkan, Dan Fried, Molly Krom, Barbara Lidsky, Victor Otcheretko,
George Rehl, Mirel Reich, Irma Seilikovich, Claire Sherr, Margareta
Tuckman, Glen Velez, Karen Weiland, and Herbert Weitz.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
William Fried, PhD, FIPA, is a clinical psychologist, psychoanalyst,
photographer, educator, author, and editor. He conducts a practice in
psychoanalysis and psychotherapy in his office in Manhattan, near
Lincoln Center. Until 2000, he was the Associate Director of Psychiatry
Residency Training and the Director of Training and Education at
the Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, NY. In those capaci-
ties, he participated in the training and education of hundreds of
mental health professionals, as a teacher, supervisor, administrator,
researcher, scholar, and mentor. In 2000, the Association for Academic
Psychiatry named him Teacher of the Year, the first time such an
award was given to a non-physician.
Dr. Fried has served as treasurer and president of the board of
Psychologist-Psychoanalyst-Practitioners, Section I of Division 39
(The Division of Psychoanalysis) of the American Psychological
Association. He also served on the board of Division 39 for twelve
years. He is currently a contributing editor of the DIVISION|REVIEW,
responsible for the Reminiscence feature, a series of articles by and
about distinguished contributors to psychoanalysis.
Dr. Fried has published papers on clinical psychoanalysis, psycho-
politics, the application of psychoanalysis to the arts, group therapy
ix
