Method to the Madness

Watching A Dangerous Method the other night, I couldn't help but think there was some connection between Freud and Stanislavsky, especially since David Cronenberg drew more from Christopher Hampton's play, The Talking Cure (2002) than he did the book by John Kerr. Very well acted film. Others have strove to draw connections between the two, notably Donald Freed in his series of lectures on Freud and Stanislavsky, published in 1964, but it seems that they arrived at their famous methods independently with no communication between them. Hard to imagine, since the two had to at least be aware of each other.

The most interesting aspect of the film was the role Sabina Spielrein played in Jung's and Freud's lives, notably Jung's life. Spielrein was the first woman psychoanalyst, and brought Freud's method to the Soviet Union in the 1920s. By this time, Stanislavsky's method acting was well established, but just the same one wonders if the two came in contact with each other. Spielrein's interest was mostly in children, and she served as the pedagogical doctor of the Third Internationale. Unfortunately, very few pictures of Spielrein available on the Internet. Of course, Keira Knightley makes for a most fetching appearance on screen.

While Spielrein had been reduced to a footnote in history, Freud's and Stanislavsky's methods live on. It seems only appropriate that Hampton and Cronenberg would turn to method acting in the play and film.

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Ward No. 6

Ward No. 6 is a short story written by Chekhov in 1892. It has appeared in various collections of Chekhov short stories, including The Horse-Stealers and Other Stories translated by Constance Garnett in 1921. In this story, Chekhov explores the inner working of a run-down lunatic asylum in a provincial town. He introduces the readers to a coarse porter who speaks mostly with his fists, various patients, a doctor who presides over this ward, and expresses his thoughts with a local postmaster. It was recently made into a movie , featuring Vladimir Ilyin. Here's a clip . There's also this very recent short film (30 min.) by Suzana Purkovic, with English subtitles.

Light and Dark

I'm still trying to sort out the ending. The story had to end tragically but was surprised that Rogozhin actually sought forgiveness in Myshkin after what he had done to Nastya, although I think that Dostoevsky intended the two to be read as one, along similar lines as The Double . He kept Rogozhin a shadowy figure throughout the novel, ever lurking in the dark of the Prince's soul. Try as he might, Prince Myshkin could not alter events and thus the fantasy world he had lived in upon returning to Russia crumbled before his eyes, leaving him at a total loss as how to reconcile himself with it. Once again, Dostoevsky plumbs great depths of the human soul. This is a psychological drama told in theatrical terms, perfectly suited for the stage. Characters appear and disappear as if moving from the shadows of the stage. I can see the "green bench" as the central stage piece. In the final part, one gets the sense that Lebedev is orchestrating events, and may even

The Morning of Our Motherland

I was watching a History channel special on Socialist Realism art of the Soviet Union and this was one of the grand canvases that is now stuffed away in the Tretyakov State Gallery . The painter was Fyodor Shurpin and he had a wonderful eye for detail, right down to the secret service black car on the road to Stalin's right. To the left, one sees a row of combines turning over the field of golden wheat, which became symbolic of Stalin's Soviet Union. Утро нашей Родины is from 1949, with Stalin radiating a post-war confidence. It is also known as Dawn of our Fatherland and other titles. Shurpin was one of the better artists to carry over from the pre-war years. The narrator pointed out how socialist realist art changed dramatically as a result of the war, becoming much more static and propagandist in appearance. He pointed to two stops along the Moscow subway as an example of this divide. Here, Shurpin essentially transposes Stalin for an earlier "Mother"

Chekhov's Gun

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