Nexflix's Freud – The Interview
"
Freud" is Netflix's upcoming eight-episode German-language series created by Marvin Kren (who also directed), Benjamin Hessler, and Stefan Brunner. The mystery thriller sees a young Sigmund on the trail of a serial killer in 19th-century Vienna.
Karen Dougherty, member of the IPA Social Media Committee, took the initiative to interview one of the creators,
Benjamin Hessler, and we are delighted to share with you the transcript of this exclusive interview.
You might be working at home or at self-quarantine. Why don't you take advantage of this time to watch this unique production and join the discussion at the end of this page? Or, why not organise a
Netflix-Party to watch movies "together" with your remote colleagues and friends simultaneously.
The International Psychoanalytic Association would like to thank Benjamin Hessler and Netflix for their generous time in providing this interview.
Keep safe and well,
Luis Alejandro Nagy
Chair of the IPA Social Media Committee
An Interview with Writer Benjamin Hessler by Karen Dougherty, IPA Social Media Committee
March 16, 2020
IMG: (L-R) Benjamin Hessler and director Marvin Kren attend the Netflix premiere of "Freud" during the 70th Berlinale International Film Festival Berlin at Zoo Palast on February 24, 2020 in Berlin, Germany.
(Feb. 23, 2020 - Source: Getty Images Europe)
Karen: Hello, Benjamin. Thank you for speaking with me today. You have a built-in, natural audience for the eight-part NetflixFreud series in the international psychoanalytic community. The IPA, as you may know, was founded by Freud in 1910 – about 25 years after the action in the series takes place. We take our Freud seriously. We can also be somewhat possessive and territorial; you may come to discover. Freud has been quite used and abused, especially since the "Freud Wars" starting in the 80's or so.
Benjamin: Well, the series was not made for psychoanalysts but a much broader audience. And it is not about psychoanalysis, per se. Freud features the young man, 30 or so, who hopes one day to be famous. He has just returned from Paris, where he has been studying hypnosis with Charcot. He is brimming with ideas and brings them back to Vienna. Curiously, Freud burned a lot of his papers from this time in his life, he says in a letter to Martha [Bernays, his then- fiancée], "I'm going to burn all these papers--and I hope the biographers have a hard time with this period in my life." So he left an island in his biography, and we just go ahead and say, what we depict in our show, that's what happened there. It's not entirely impossible!
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