Participants: Glen Gabbard, Adrienne Harris, Dan Klores, Eric R. Marcus, Daphne Merkin, Michael Miller
Directed by Dan Klores, Crazy Love is the disturbing story of love and obsession between Burt Pugach and Linda Riss, which shocked the nation during the summer of 1959. Burt, a 32 year old married attorney, and Linda, a beautiful 20 year old single girl living in the Bronx, had a whirlwind romance, concluding in perhaps the most violent and psychologically complex set of actions possible. With the cooperation of the principles, Burt now 79, and Linda, 67, Klores examines the human psyche and the concepts of love, loneliness, insanity, hope and forgiveness.
The Screening will be followed by a roundtable discussion entitled Crazy Love: Who's Tormenting Whom?
Glen Gabbard is Brown Foundation Professor of Psychanalysis at Baylor University and Director of the Baylor Psychiatry Clinic. He is the author of The Psychology of the Sopranos: Love, Death, Desire and Betrayal in America's Favorite Gangster Family.
Adrienne Harris is on the faculty and supervises at the New York University Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis. She is on the editorial boards of Psychoanalytic Dialogues and Studies in Gender and Sexuality and is the co-editor, with Lewis Aron, of The Legacy of Sandor Ferenczi.
Dan Klores is a director, producer, and public relations specialist. He has appeared as a commentator on numerous network television programs, including "Today," "Good Morning America," and "Entertainment Tonight." He produced Paul Simon's Broadway musical The Capeman and served as executive producer of the film City by the Sea. In addition to Crazy Love, he has directed The Boys of 2nd Street Park, Ring of Fire: The Emilie Griffith Story, and Viva Baseball!.
Eric R. Marcus is a supervising and training analyst and soon to be director of the Columbia University Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research. Interested in modern ego psychology approaches to interdisciplinary work, he has a special interest in symbolic alterations of reality in dreams, in art, in culture, and in psychosis. His most recent book is Psychosis and Near Psychosis: Ego Function, Symbol Structure, Treatment.
Daphne Merkin is a critic and novelist and has been a regular contributor to The New Yorker, The New Republic, and The New York Times Book Review. She is currently a contributing writer for the New York Times Magazine and has a regular column in Elle called "Provocateur." She is the author of the novel Enchantment and Dreaming of Hitler, a collection of essays.
Michael Miller is a clinical psychologist in private practice in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He lectures widely on his ideas about contemporary love and intimacy. He is the author of Intimate Terrorism: The Crisis of Love in An Age of Disillusion.
The screening is presented in cooperation with Shoot the Moon Productions, Inc.