"In 1904, 29-year-old Carl Jung took as his first patient a highly intelligent Russian Jew, Sabina Spielrein. His intitial diagnosis: hysteria. In the course of her analysis the patient fell in love with Jung. Letters passed between them and he returned her interest, then nervously turned to his mentor, Sigmund Freud, for advice. Freud warned about the dangers of 'counter transference' and women patients in particular, noting his own 'narrow escape.' Then Sabina and Freud embarked on a lengthy correspondence. Ultimately Sabina became one of the first women psychoanalysts and a specialist in schizophrenia. A unique love affair is dramatized, using the three principals' fascinating correspondence, journals, and professional writings." - Karen Cooper, Film Forum

Discussants:
Katherine W. Olivetti is past President of the C.G. Jung Institute of New York, a member of the Journal Committee, and responsible for the Journal of Jungian Theory and Practice. Mrs. Olivetti has taught and lectured worldwide on a variety of subjects, including dream interpretation, masochism, sacrifice, and creativity.

Nellie L. Thompson is an historian, member of the New York Psychoanalytic Society and Institute, and Curator of the Archives of the Institute's A.A. Brill Library. Her research explores the role of women in the psychoanalytic movement and she has written on Helene Deutsch, Josephine Jackson, Marie Bonaparte and Edith Jacobson.

This screening is presented in collaboration with Film Forum, New York's leading nonprofit cinema for independent film premieres and repertory programming.