A Jungian Perspective on the Therapist-Patient Relationship in Film

Book excerpt: Within this book, Ruth Netzer explores the archetypal components of therapist-patient relations in cinema from the perspective of Jungian archetypal symbolism, and within the context of myth and ritual. Film is a medium that is attracted to the extremes of this specific relationship, depicting the collapse of the accepted boundaries of therapyp; though on the other hand, cinema also loves the fantasy of therapy as intimacy. Through the medium of film, and employing examples from over 45 well-known films, the author analyzes the successes and failures of therapists within film, and reviews the concepts of transference and counter-transference and their therapeutic and redemptive powers, in contrast to their potential for destruction and exploitation within the context of a patient-therapist relationship. This book will be a fascinating read for Jungian analysts, psychologists, psychiatrists, and therapists with an interest in the link between cinema and therapy, as well as filmmakers and students and teachers of film studies.