Click HERE to order tickets from GSFC.

Click HERE to read my review of Waltz with Bashir (posted by JUF Online on 1/22/09).

Click HERE to read my interview with filmmaker Ari Folman.

Note that Tuesday’s screening will be the last in the series “Expanded Narratives,” so there will be a post-screening lecture by Daniel Eisenberg (internationally renowned filmmaker and Professor of Film, Video, New Media, and Animation at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago).

From Tzivi’s May ’12 Spotlight — on Freud!

“Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar…”

Seventy-two years after his death in London at age 83, Sigmund Freud, the quintessential Viennese Jew, is suddenly hot again. This column will focus on three recent films; a related column by JUF News editor Cindy Sher will discuss the new play Freud’s Last Session (currently on stage at the Mercury Theatre on Southport).

Mahler on the Couch, coming to our Gene Siskel Film Center on State Street for a one-week run from April 27 to May 3, is a brilliant evocation of Fin-de-Siècle Vienna.

Basing their screenplay on one page in Ernest Jones’ mammoth three-volume biography of Freud describing a meeting between Freud and composer Gustav Mahler, German director Percy Adlon and his son Felix have created an aural and visual delight that simultaneously enlarged my mind and broke my heart.

The performers, Johannes Silberschneider as “Mahler,” Karl Markovics (best known for his lead role in the Oscar-winning Austrian film The Counterfeiters) as “Freud,” and newcomer Barbara Romaner as “Alma” (married first to Mahler, then to architect Walter Gropius, and finally to novelist Franz Werfel), are all extraordinary.

“That it happened is fact. How it happened is fiction,” say the Adlons. Indeed! Do not wait for DVD; this beautiful film deserves to be seen on the biggest possible screen.

For tickets call (312) 846-2085 or visit www.siskelfilmcenter.org.

Photo Credits © Benedict Neuenfels. National Center for Jewish Film.

Tzivi’s DVD Collection

One of our biggest disappointments at the 2011 Chicago International Film Festival last October was David Cronenberg’s A Dangerous Method, which he adapted for the screen with Christopher Hampton. (Hampton, an award-winning playwright and screenwriter, had based his 2002 stage play The Talking Cure on John Kerr’s book A Most Dangerous Method: The story of Jung, Freud, and Sabina Spielrein.)

My husband Rich and I went in knowing a fair amount of psychoanalytic theory, having studied both men in graduate school and beyond, but the name Sabina Spielrein was new to us. Sadly, we found the film dull, pretentious, and egregiously miscast.

Keira Knightly fails utterly as “Spielrein,” a Jewish teen from a wealthy Russian family sent to Switzerland at the dawn of the 20^th Century in hopes that young “Carl Jung” (Michael Fassbender) can use the new techniques of “Sigmund Freud” (Viggo Mortensen) to cure her hysterical outbursts. (Note that “hysteria” was a common diagnosis at that time for women who acted out.)

While Howard Shore’s Wagner riffs (heavy on the Siegfried) boom in the background, Spielrein and Jung conduct a ludicrous love affair, until Spielrein tattles, leading Freud to puff away on his cigar while musing thoughtfully about countertransference. Most surprising for a Cronenberg film, the silly spanking scenes are totally devoid of erotic energy, and none of the goings-on have any hint of frisson.

Now I have loved Viggo Mortensen (best known as the heroic knight “Aragorn” in The Lord of the Rings trilogy) in many films (most notably Good, A History of Violence, and A Walk on the Moon). But when he turned to the equally Nordic Knightly and said, with utmost sincerity: “My dear, we are Jews!” well, I started giggling and could not regain my composure until rolling credits finally released me.

You would never guess it from A Dangerous Method, but Sabina Spielrein was, in fact, a tremendously interesting and important historical figure in her own right, especially once she was liberated from her doomed relationship with Jung.

The details of her adult life (including her work in child psychiatry at the Jean-Jacques Rousseau Institute in Geneva when Jean Piaget was a student and her research on language development after returning to the Soviet Union in the mid-20s) are well-presented in Elisabeth Marton’s 2002 docudrama My Name was Sabina Spielrein.

Marton makes extensive use of a treasure trove of letters discovered in Switzerland in 1977. With voice-over readings and judicious reconstruction of key scenes with live actors, Marton traces Spielrein’s life from the time she arrived at the Burghölzli Clinic in Zurich in 1904 until her death in 1942 (when Nazi soldiers devastated the Jewish community of Rostov-on-Don during their siege of Stalingrad).

Released on DVD by Chicago’s own Facets Multimedia, My Name was Sabina Spielrein can be rented from Facets and Netflix or streamed on MovieBerry.com.

Tzivi’s DVD Collection

One of our biggest disappointments at the 2011 Chicago International Film Festival last October was David Cronenberg’s A Dangerous Method, which he adapted for the screen with Christopher Hampton. (Hampton, an award-winning playwright and screenwriter, had based his 2002 stage play The Talking Cure on John Kerr’s book A Most Dangerous Method: The story of Jung, Freud, and Sabina Spielrein.)

My husband Rich and I went in knowing a fair amount of psychoanalytic theory, having studied both men in graduate school and beyond, but the name Sabina Spielrein was new to us. Sadly, we found the film dull, pretentious, and egregiously miscast.

Keira Knightly fails utterly as “Spielrein,” a Jewish teen from a wealthy Russian family sent to Switzerland at the dawn of the 20^th Century in hopes that young “Carl Jung” (Michael Fassbender) can use the new techniques of “Sigmund Freud” (Viggo Mortensen) to cure her hysterical outbursts. (Note that “hysteria” was a common diagnosis at that time for women who acted out.)

While Howard Shore’s Wagner riffs (heavy on the Siegfried) boom in the background, Spielrein and Jung conduct a ludicrous love affair, until Spielrein tattles, leading Freud to puff away on his cigar while musing thoughtfully about countertransference. Most surprising for a Cronenberg film, the silly spanking scenes are totally devoid of erotic energy, and none of the goings-on have any hint of frisson.

Now I have loved Viggo Mortensen (best known as the heroic knight “Aragorn” in The Lord of the Rings trilogy) in many films (most notably Good, A History of Violence, and A Walk on the Moon). But when he turned to the equally Nordic Knightly and said, with utmost sincerity: “My dear, we are Jews!” well, I started giggling and could not regain my composure until rolling credits finally released me.

You would never guess it from A Dangerous Method, but Sabina Spielrein was, in fact, a tremendously interesting and important historical figure in her own right, especially once she was liberated from her doomed relationship with Jung.

The details of her adult life (including her work in child psychiatry at the Jean-Jacques Rousseau Institute in Geneva when Jean Piaget was a student and her research on language development after returning to the Soviet Union in the mid-20s) are well-presented in Elisabeth Marton’s 2002 docudrama My Name was Sabina Spielrein.

Marton makes extensive use of a treasure trove of letters discovered in Switzerland in 1977. With voice-over readings and judicious reconstruction of key scenes with live actors, Marton traces Spielrein’s life from the time she arrived at the Burghölzli Clinic in Zurich in 1904 until her death in 1942 (when Nazi soldiers devastated the Jewish community of Rostov-on-Don during their siege of Stalingrad).

Released on DVD by Chicago’s own Facets Multimedia, My Name was Sabina Spielrein can be rented from Facets and Netflix or streamed on MovieBerry.com.

Returning to the 21^st Century

Just as this column was about to go to press, I learned that Frank Rich (longtime New York Times drama critic turned political pundit) will do a special program at Steppenwolf Theatre on Halsted on Monday May 7.

Best-known to “culture vultures” as the New York Times’ long-time drama critic, Rich transitioned to weekly columnist & TV pundit before resigning to focus on new projects including the cable series Veep (for which he serves as Executive Producer).

For tickets, call (312) 335-1650 or visit the Steppenwolf website.

“Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar…”

Seventy-two years after his death in London at age 83, Sigmund Freud, the quintessential Viennese Jew, is suddenly hot again. This column will focus on three recent films; a related column by JUF News editor Cindy Sher will discuss the new play Freud’s Last Session (currently on stage at the Mercury Theatre on Southport).

Mahler on the Couch, coming to our Gene Siskel Film Center on State Street for a one-week run from April 27 to May 3, is a brilliant evocation of Fin-de-Siècle Vienna.

Basing their screenplay on one page in Ernest Jones’ mammoth three-volume biography of Freud describing a meeting between Freud and composer Gustav Mahler, German director Percy Adlon and his son Felix have created an aural and visual delight that simultaneously enlarged my mind and broke my heart.

The performers, Johannes Silberschneider as “Mahler,” Karl Markovics (best known for his lead role in the Oscar-winning Austrian film The Counterfeiters) as “Freud,” and newcomer Barbara Romaner as “Alma” (married first to Mahler, then to architect Walter Gropius, and finally to novelist Franz Werfel), are all extraordinary.

“That it happened is fact. How it happened is fiction,” say the Adlons. Indeed! Do not wait for DVD; this beautiful film deserves to be seen on the biggest possible screen.

For tickets call (312) 846-2085 or visit www.siskelfilmcenter.org.

Tzivi’s DVD Collection

One of our biggest disappointments at the 2011 Chicago International Film Festival last October was David Cronenberg’s A Dangerous Method, which he adapted for the screen with Christopher Hampton. (Hampton, an award-winning playwright and screenwriter, had based his 2002 stage play The Talking Cure on John Kerr’s book A Most Dangerous Method: The story of Jung, Freud, and Sabina Spielrein.)

My husband Rich and I went in knowing a fair amount of psychoanalytic theory, having studied both men in graduate school and beyond, but the name Sabina Spielrein was new to us. Sadly, we found the film dull, pretentious, and egregiously miscast.

Keira Knightly fails utterly as “Spielrein,” a Jewish teen from a wealthy Russian family sent to Switzerland at the dawn of the 20^th Century in hopes that young “Carl Jung” (Michael Fassbender) can use the new techniques of “Sigmund Freud” (Viggo Mortensen) to cure her hysterical outbursts. (Note that “hysteria” was a common diagnosis at that time for women who acted out.)

While Howard Shore’s Wagner riffs (heavy on the Siegfried) boom in the background, Spielrein and Jung conduct a ludicrous love affair, until Spielrein tattles, leading Freud to puff away on his cigar while musing thoughtfully about countertransference.  Most surprising for a Cronenberg film, the silly spanking scenes are totally devoid of erotic energy, and none of the goings-on have any hint of frisson.

Now I have loved Viggo Mortensen (best known as the heroic knight “Aragorn” in The Lord of the Rings trilogy) in many films (most notably Good, A History of Violence, and A Walk on the Moon). But when he turned to the equally Nordic Knightly and said, with utmost sincerity: “My dear, we are Jews!” well, I started giggling and could not regain my composure until rolling credits finally released me.

**********

You would never guess it from A Dangerous Method, but Sabina Spielrein was, in fact, a tremendously interesting and important historical figure in her own right, especially once she was liberated from her doomed relationship with Jung.

The details of her adult life (including her work in child psychiatry at the Jean-Jacques Rousseau Institute in Geneva when Jean Piaget was a student and her research on language development after returning to the Soviet Union in the mid-20s) are well-presented in Elisabeth Marton’s 2002 docudrama My Name was Sabina Spielrein.

Marton makes extensive use of a treasure trove of letters discovered in Switzerland in 1977. With voice-over readings and judicious reconstruction of key scenes with live actors, Marton traces Spielrein’s life from the time she arrived at the Burghölzli Clinic in Zurich in 1904 until her death in 1942 (when Nazi soldiers devastated the Jewish community of Rostov-on-Don during their siege of Stalingrad).

Released on DVD by Chicago’s own Facets Multimedia, My Name was Sabina Spielrein can be rented from Facets and Netflix or streamed on MovieBerry.com.

Returning to the 21^st Century

Just as this column was about to go to press, I learned that Frank Rich (longtime New York Times drama critic turned political pundit) will do a special program at Steppenwolf Theatre on Halsted on Monday May 7. For tickets, call (312) 335-1650 or visit www.steppenwolf.org. Meanwhile consult my blog for additional details.

*****

Chicago author Jan Lisa Huttner (Tzivi) created the award-winning Films for Two website (www.films42.com) with her husband Rich in 2002. Visit Jan’s blog, www.SecondCityTzivi.com, for a complete online archive of all JUF News columns and posts plus additional interviews and reviews. Send comments and/or suggestions for future columns to Tzivi@msn.com.

Posted by JUF Online on 5/1/12.

I spoke on one of my favorite topics: The Far-Flung Jewish Diaspora. To fully understand the Zionist dream of “Ingathering of the Exiles,” I believe Jews need to appreciate how far we have traveled over the years & how much we have contributed at all of our many stops along the way.

In my hand-out, I provided a list of films that explore the Mexican Jewish experience, including:

• A Kiss to This Land
• I Miss You
• Like a Bride
• My Mexican Shivah
• Nora’s Will

Click here for today’s hand-out as a pdf –> 12Apr18AgamNMMA

I made my first visit to the NMMA in 2003 when they hosted the traveling “Jacques & Natasha Gelman Collection” (aka Frida Kahlo & Friends). Click here for my award-winning Foward article about it –> GelmanArticle03

I have been to NMMA several times since, but there have been many new enhancements since my last visit in August 2011, so if you haven’t been to the NMMA for awhile, you should definitely plan a trip!

Many thanks to Ellen Gossich (Agam President) & Joan Olin (Agam Program VP) for inviting me, & to my friend Elisa Steinberg for coming with me & taking the pix.

Finally, GRACIAS to the NMMA Team: Mario Hernandez (our wonderful tour guide), as well as Alicia Herrera (Gallery Education Coordinator) & Rachel Blanco (Special Events Director).

Photo Credits

Mario Hernandez (tour guide): Jan Lisa Huttner (4/18/12)

Jan in the Gold Room: Elisa Steinberg (4/18/12)

Jan in the Pink Room: Elisa Steinberg (4/18/12)

Mario with Agam Members: Jan Lisa Huttner (4/18/12)

She did Q&A sessions after the two screenings of her remarkable first feature The Prize at our Chicago Latino Film Festival & luckily I was able to attend both.

I won’t kid you: The Prize is a difficult & painful film about a 7 year old girl hiding from the authorities during Argentina’s “Dirty War” in 1977. Cecilia’s father has already “disappeared,” & her mother Lucia alternates between stubborn resistance & depressed exhaustion. Altho she clearly loves her daughter very much, living in fear is sapping Lucia’s strength, & she has very little ability to cope with her child’s antics.

But knowing it is a semi-autobiographical story gives us the ray of hope needed to fully appreciate it without turning away. Paula has lived to tell this story. Her childhood travails have made her a great artist & I am so pleased that I was able to spend time with her.

A full interview with Paula will be posted soon. She told me she is already working on her next film, so hopefully we will see her here in Chicago again some day.

Adios Schvester Paula! L’Hitraot v’ Hasta Manana

Photo Credits

Paula with Jan & Monica under the yellow lights outside the Rosebud on Taylor Street after Saturday screening: Jim (4/14/12)

Paula during Monday Q&A: Jan Lisa Huttner (4/16/12)

With Jan after Monday screening: Bev Chubat (4/16/12)

Paula surrounded by Audience Members (4/16/12)

Mazel Tov, Schvester Paula!

Alas, as always happens, Jewish-themed films arrive at our annual Chicago Latino Film Festival without obvious markers… But as soon as I scan the list of festival guests, my JewDar kicks in. And so, even though CLFF staff didn’t realize the characters in The Prize were Jewish, I saw the filmmaker’s name (Paula Markovitch) & immediately began Googling…

And here’s what popped up first on the Jerusalem Film Festival website:

“Argentina, the 1970s, at the height of the ‘dirty war’ waged by the military junta that ruled the country from 1976 to 1983. A mother and her seven-year-old daughter arrive in a remote coastal region. Though it is not explicitly stated, it is clear that the family is Jewish. The desperate mother decides to send Cecilia to school—with instructions to tell that her mother is a housewife and that her father (who has in fact disappeared), has a curtain shop in the city. When the girl writes an essay on the subject of ‘Our Army,’ terrible problems are in store for daughter and mother. When a rewritten, patriotic version is sent to the national competition, and wins first prize, the threat to the family becomes even greater.”

In their statement giving Markovitch their “In the Spirit of Freedom” Award for 2011, the JFF Jury members said:

“For her fascinating artistic ability based upon the director’s autobiography, emphasizing the feeling of anxiety, detachment, and persecution of the mother and daughter under the repressive fascist regime of 1970s Argentina. For making use of unique cinematic means, Markovitch succeeds in reaching emotional intimacy with the characters while motivating the actors specifically the young girl in the main role, in a touching and convincing manner.”

I haven’t seen it yet, so I can’t make my own personal comments except to say that Paula Markovitch will be our guest in Chicago starting tomorrow, & her first feature film has already accumulated an impressive array of international accolades in addition to recognition from the JFF described above.

CLIFF screenings are Sat (4/14) @ 3:45 PM & Mon (4/16) @ 6:15 PM, & both screenings are at the Landmark Century in Lincoln Park.

Click HERE to purchase tickets. Me, I have my tickets for the 4/14 screening so if you’re there too, then please find me & say hi

Over dinner at the Berghoff, I zeroed in on the story “Sister Hills.” Neighbors for decades, in war and at peace, two women who live side-by-side in a West Bank settlement make a solemn agreement in a moment of great fear. “More than anything that I’ve ever written, this book has really been a Rorschach Test,” said Englander. “I thought you might be headed there.” Yes he was schmoozing with a woman the same age as the characters in this story, but it turned out we had a deeper connection.

“My father’s yahrzeit was last week and the Torah reading was Mishpatim,” I said. “So questions of slavery and ownership are fresh on my mind.” “Mishpatim! That was my bar mitzvah parsha!” said Englander. “Writing is fraught. The process is crazy. But when I finished ‘Sister Hills,’ I did not sleep that night. I couldn’t. I was so rattled by it.”

Then he became speculative: “Something about doing the Haggadah project gave me the distance to look at my process anew and it allowed me to write more close…You’re making me think now of how memory is formed.”

In the midst of crafting new stories (“I’m going to tell the whole history of West Bank settlement in a single short story.”), Englander had gone back to the Hebrew text of our foundational story, and transformed the opening words of the Haggadah into these English words: “You are blessed, Lord God-of-Us, King of the Cosmos.” Now families all around the world will gather together this Passover and say these words, and this is how memories are formed.

Englander returns to Chicago on Thursday, April 26 to do an evening program—one of the iDays events—with Israeli author Etgar Keret at Chicago Sinai Congregation. For tickets, visit: www.ChicagoHumanities.org.

To read Mishpatim (Exodus 21:1 – 24:18) in the JPS Tanakh, visit www.jtsa.edu/PreBuilt/ParashahArchives/jpstext/mishpatim.shtml.