- This event has passed.
All attendees will be sent a unique link to join the live event and the recording 24 hours after the event, available for 1 month. It will take place over 2 days: Saturday 11 February and Sunday 12 February 2023, 2pm-5pm on each day. Please check the time difference if you are not in the same time zone as UK.
Total duration: 6 hours (3 hours each day)
The depiction of sexuality shapes a film’s central themes; provocative content animates us and turns us on. Sigmund Freud believed that “the behaviour of a human being in sexual matters is often a prototype for the whole of their other modes of reaction in life.” Psychoanalysts regard sexuality as the key to understanding how the mind works; “no one who disdains the key will ever be able to unlock the door,” Freud warned.
Eros is the life instinct in psychoanalysis, constituting physical pleasure, procreation, survival, productivity, and the desire to unite with others. Early on, Freud defined erotic impulses as being opposed by the Ego. But later, in Beyond The Pleasure Principle (1920), he placed Eros in contrast to the so-called ‘death wish’: repetition, aggression, a masochistic need to sabotage what we love, and the compulsion to return to an inorganic state (i.e., Thanatos).
The binding and clashing forces of sex and death together form an entwined dual system that is the source of all creation. This course explores the paradoxical tension in eroticism, tracing its manifestation in moving image from flirtation, seduction and very hot encounters, to destructive urges and taboo practices, incorporating innocuous beauty and the devastating sublime. There are currently earnest warnings in mainstream culture that sex scenes are gratuitous and unnecessary; my proposition is that we must wholly and ardently reject such warnings because sex is a vital driver of the cinematic experience. Prudes, keep away!
Content warning: graphic imagery will be presented, viewer discretion is advised.
Session 1 EROS
- Emmanuelle (1974) Just Jaeckin
- Betty Blue (1986) Jean-Jacques Beineix
- 9 1/2 Weeks (1986) Adrian Lyne
- Paprika (1991) Tinto Brass
- Bound (1996) Lana Wachowski, Lilly Wachowski
- Y Tu Mamà También (2001) Alfonso Cuarón
Session 2 THANATOS
- Belle De Jour (1967) Luis Buñuel
- Basic Instinct (1992) Paul Verhoeven
- I Am a Sex Addict (2005) Caveh Zahedi
- Shame (2011) Steve McQueen
- Eyes Wide Shut (1999) Stanley Kubrick
- Nymphomaniac (2013) Lars von Trier
PROJECTIONS is psychoanalysis for film interpretation. PROJECTIONS empowers film spectators to express subjective associations they consider to be meaningful. Expertise in psychoanalytic theory is not necessary – the only prerequisite is the desire to enter and inhabit the imaginary world of film, which is itself a psychoanalytic act. MARY WILD (@psycstar), a Freudian cinephile from Montreal, is the creator of PROJECTIONS.
Bursary
There are a limited number of bursary places available for £15. Priority will be given to UK unemployed and PIP/ESA claimants. Application forms are now closed.
Members’ Discount
From the 1 April 2022, Freud Museum Members will be able to receive a 20% discount on tickets with a special Members code. Details will be circulated to all Members on 31 March.
