"Geheimnisse Einer Seele" (1926) By G. W. Pabst

Ferdinand Von Galitzien · Post by **Ferdinand Von Galitzien** » Sat Apr 11, 2009 1:01 am

At the beginning of the last century, Herr Sigmund Freud was a
notorious Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist who was famous for his
innovative studies of mental diseases and the complicated unconscious
mind. This led him to found psychoanalysis and write "Die Traumdeutung"
( The Interpretation Of Dreams ) a turning point in modern psychiatry
that claimed the path to the unconscious could be found in dreams.
Since aristocrats usually have nothing in their minds, psychoanalysis
could do little to fill such a void but was very useful for average
people whose more accessible simple minds made them good subjects for
these innovative psychiatric methods.

"Geheimnisse Einer Seele" ( Secrets Of A Soul ) (1926) , directed by
Herr G. W. Pabst, an Austrian like Herr Freud, is about this new
psychoanalysis, a subject in fashion in Germany due to the complex and
confused Teutonic minds, that Herr Pabst efficiently and aseptically
describes in this film.

The film is famous for its notorious dream sequence in which a
chemistry professor's unconscious fears come to the surface and
threatens his marriage. It is all connected to an incident in the
neighbourhood and the return of his wife's cousin from India.

The first half of the film shows the tranquil and bourgeois life of the
professor together with his wife and the (at first) unimportant events
that little by little will affect the professor's unconscious and will
take shape in a traumatic dream. This is the most unique and
interesting part of the film, the late Expressionist dream sequence, a
nightmare, a nonsense puzzle that during the second half of the film
will be analyzed and described with the help of a psychoanalyst,
natürlich!.

Herr Pabst, due to his Teutonic and organized human nature, describes
and solves every little detail shown during the powerful dream sequence
with the knowledgeable help of the psychiatrist of the film; a
coherent, logical and aseptic analysis that lacks emotion and rhythm so
there is no room for mystery. The story also has a conservative and too
conventional happy ending that throws the film a bit off balance and is
too predictable given the odd subject matter.

That's what happens when you are an open-minded and common person, your
innermost secrets are easily revealed, so unlike the wicked, empty and
inscrutable aristocratic minds.

And now, if you'll allow me, I must temporarily take my leave because
this German Count must wake up.

Herr Graf Ferdinand Von Galitzien
http://ferdinandvongalitzien.blogspot.com/

FrankFay · Post by **FrankFay** » Sat Apr 11, 2009 6:34 am

This film had it's moments of fascination for me, but often made me laugh inappropriately.

Post by **Christopher Jacobs** » Sat Apr 11, 2009 1:16 pm

After years (decades!) of reading about this film, I jumped at the chance to buy the DVD when Kino released it. Perhaps it was due to overly hyped-up expectations, but I was disappointed in the film as a whole, while finding it an interesting cinematic exercise nevertheless.

Incidentally, in case no one has stumbled across it yet, I have had an original 1926 "Photoplay" article on the film posted on my website since late 1998, scanned from a 1997-flood-damaged issue that I didn't have the heart to throw away (hence the slightly rippled/wrinkled pages). It can be found at http://www.und.nodak.edu/instruct/cjacobs/Photoplay.htm and there is also a link to it near the bottom of my home page.

--Christopher Jacobs
http://www.und.edu/instruct/cjacobs

Post by **Mike Gebert** » Sat Apr 11, 2009 1:58 pm

My memory is that it was slickly made but extremely literal in its neat depiction of how everything in the guy's dreams had a direct and obvious counterpart in his life. This has been the perpetual problem in the depiction of Freudianism on film-- Spellbound suffers from the same faintly risible literalness. Suffice it to say that there's more convincing psychology in any other Pabst film I've seen, precisely because they're not so neat and tidy in making sure everything is explained.

The film I would love to see, which might have the same problem or might be better, is the 1935 Swiss film The Eternal Mask, which I cited in a long-ago thread on European films of the 30s that should be available and aren't. Contemporary reviews spoke extremely highly of it but it was considered lost for a long time after the war and though it was found in the 70s or 80s, it remains nearly impossible to see.