When Nietzsche Wept (2007)

To me, this movie is perfection.

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Contrary to what another reviewer asserted, I think the dream sequences only add to what would have otherwise been a well constructed, if by the numbers, film.I like fantastic visual elements in films, and here they contrast nicely with the realism of historical Vienna locations and period costumes.The script is not historical per se, but it does touch upon some historical realities such as the influence Nietzsche had upon Freud.I gave it 8 stars because a couple of the accents were atrocious, and in parts it seemed like the lighting and color correction were not as even as they could be.Nevertheless, I found this gem among the most watchable of the films that have landed in my que as of late.

Fine production values, a dry sense of humor throughout, literate script, decent casting (Assante transcends his usual "heroics" and plays a crumbling soul nicely and Cross is always workmanlike and solid), and, slyly, the film (as the book did) finally gives Nietzsche credit for inventing modern psychoanalysis (since Freud, et al, in the field stole from his works outrageously and lavishly, without assigning him the proper credit for his startlingly original insights into the world-historical human, all too human capacity for self-deception).A tough work for an adaptation, but this movie succeeds where something like "Freud" dismally collapsed into timid clichés.Nietzsche would have gotten many a devilish laugh out of this work's visual craftiness.And appreciated being treated, not as a cartoon "Overman" idol, but a struggling, flawed, tragic-comically-profound human."Ecce Homo", his anti-"autobiography" warned those who followed not to take him too seriously.If this film stimulates a few people to pick up his "Joyful Wisdom" (La Gaya Scienza) or "Dawn", it will have made its honorable point.Yalom was, in essence, giving Nietszche a posthumous brother's embrace for his loneliness and struggle and brilliance and scorn and lack of recognition while he lived.This movie does the same.To a guy, who, friendless and abandoned and ignored through much of his writing life, still affirmed the Universe and humanity in the words: "Man would rather have the Void for a purpose than be void of purpose." -F.N.Worth a viewing.

This probably one of the few popular culture references to Freud in which he is a minute character amongst other characters. Freud is essentially stripped of his typical authority in this role, which is an interesting parallel given that Nietzsche strips Breuer of his authority. I cannot help but wonder if some of the negative reviews done by Psychology professionals come from the fact that this story is a depiction of the authority and power being taken from the designated 'therapist'? This film focuses Josef Breuer, a relatively quiet figure in early psychological history. Parts of the film are a bit melodramatic, but I thought the storyline made up for that. Perhaps what was most fascinating and true was that it touched on the fact that one does not have to be a "professional,"to be a great analyst, but someone who has lived, truly looking at the human condition we all face, but often choose to ignore. It also touches on the psychological work that occurs not only for the patient,but also for the Analyst during the work. The dream sequences were very interesting and creatively done. It is most interesting reading all of the comments while thinking about my own experience of the movie. I did not think the accents were that bad (and I've actually been to Austria as well as Switzerland). However accents or lack thereof do not typically ruin a film for me. Perhaps I would not care for it if I had read a lot of Nietzsche or the book the film was based on, but I did not. So there!

Knowing nothing of the book, and based solely on the DVD cover and description I expected a disappointingly shallow, titillating pseudo-intellectual romp through the fields of pretense. But the portrayal of the rare humanity of these characters as they confronted their obsessions and limitations drew me into rapt attention at the next plot development. Perhaps I'm just shallow and easily amused, but this story gave a fairly good look at a decent man, Joseph Breuer, and his struggle to really feel his humanity. This is an important story, one rarely told because how many story tellers have been through the fire of transformation to live for real? Where do you find an audience willing to sit through something they're desperately trying to avoid themselves? Maybe package it as a shallow and titillating pseudo-intellectual romp. Sure there were times when I saw through the weave of the story, for a moment I even saw Assante speaking lines rather than Nietzsche talking but for the most part this story was to me a real story of people really evolving right before our very eyes. That's not something you're going to see every day.