Love Or Disease? Film For Viewing

2024 Author: Harry Day | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 15:43

My love for cinema began in early childhood, when my parents took me, very little, with them to the cinema. In my school years, I already went to the cinema with classmates and friends. People of my generation, I suppose, remember that in those days there were only two programs on TV, and a family trip to the cinema was comparable to "going out". It was to watch the new film that we went to the cinema. And if he was also foreign, then the queues at the cashier were guaranteed.

In 1989, the movement of cinema clubs began to develop actively in Odessa, and at the beginning of a new stage of my life, as a student, I was a frequent frequent visitor of “cinema sittings”.

Thanks to Jan Yusim, I got acquainted with a completely different world of cinema … Retrospective screenings, film weeks (French, Polish, Israeli, Spanish, Georgian, etc.), festivals, single demonstrations - all these events made my stay in the world more diverse and fulfilling, gave food for thought. Reflection after watching the films brought and shown by Jan usually lasted for quite a long time and contributed to changes and development thanks to new experiences and understandings.

Ian's personality is one example of genuine human generosity for me: " If you want to watch a good movie, show it to everyone. ".

In 1994, in Odessa, Jan Yusim organized a retrospective screening of films by the famous French director, one of the founders of the "new wave" direction Francois Truffaut. Then the films were shown in French, without subtitles; a “live” translator with a microphone was sitting in the hall. The hall was overcrowded with representatives of bohemian Odessa and students and teachers of the French language department of the Faculty of Romance and Germanic Philology of the University. Mechnikov. My French at that time was very good, and then I first came into contact with the work of this genius, in my opinion, director.

I wanted to create my first film therapy groups on the basis of Truffaut's films, as if I wanted to express in this way a kind of "thank you" to Jan Yusim, thanks to whom my acquaintance with a completely different world of "cinema" took place.

One of the frequent requests in my practice is the request for emotional, love addiction.

The question of what love can be was asked by all the philosophers of the world, trying to create a typology according to certain criteria. Many of them argue that love can only be sacrificial. The essence of sacrificial love is the surrender of oneself, one's “I”. Can any sacrifice be called love? Where does the boundary of sacrifice end, does it have limits?

Watching movies can be not just fun, but also a way to improve yourself. In this case, he becomes a living, healing process of comprehending his life through the life of the heroes of the film. When watching a movie, the most important, often unrecognized problems are touched upon. The film is a triggering mechanism for realizing one's problems, feelings and experiences associated with them, and comprehending one's life, holistically affecting not only the emotional, but also the intellectual, behavioral, intuitive and spiritual spheres.

Internal experiences, subconscious conflicts, unconscious problems and needs are touched upon through identification with one of the characters in the film, leading to a way out of a difficult life situation. The recommended film can pose “uncomfortable” questions to the client, which they have never asked in their everyday life, and also contain answers to them, a kind of “keys” to resolving the identified conflicts and problems.

One of the films that has long shown itself to be a miracle cure for emotional addiction, and which has already taken a special place in my "film pharmacy", is the film of one of my favorite directors, Francois Truffaut, "The Story of Adele G." The film is based on real events and is based on the diaries of Victor Hugo's daughter. This film, in my opinion, is one of the brightest in the cinema, shot on this topic.

I don't want to retell the plot of the film, so as not to discourage interest in watching it. I will make just a few accents that are worth paying attention to.

There is a view that addiction always occurs where there is a deficit: a deficit of love, acceptance, recognition, attention, support, etc. Another view of addiction is the emergence of addiction against the backdrop of a gigantic excess of pain. In this film, you can see how the "black holes" of the soul of the protagonist were formed. And also the process of development of her illness: ignoring reality, life in a world of illusions, loss of her dignity, a gradual path to madness. In all Truffaut's films, there are secondary stories that seem to remain in the background, but weave in like a main storyline, creating contrast. And in Adele G's Story, such a story is the relationship of an elderly couple from whom Adele rented a room.

So what is the measure of sacrifice in love? At one of my film therapy groups, in contrast to the story of Adele, I presented the stories of Decembrist wives who sacrificed their comfort, status and much more and went to share the fate of their spouses in hard labor. Has the dignity of these women been compromised? Have they lost themselves or gained more as a result of their sacrifice?

There are many questions to which each participant had their own answers….

I would like to end the publication with a quote from Leonardo Bruscaglia: “ The passionate love always creates and never dissolves. "

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