When Nietzsche cried (2007) is a film based on the book of the same title by psychotherapist Irvin D. Yalom, and although the film has had different reviews (some full reviews, some dissatisfied viewers), everyone agrees on one thing: the cast did an excellent job in interpreting their roles. For this reason, we decided to make a summary of the film.

Brief introduction

When Nietzsche Cried is the 1992 historical fiction novel written by American existentialist Irvin D. Yalom. Set in Vienna in the 1880s, the story promotes a hypothetical encounter between real-life figures Dr. Josef Breuer and philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, whose therapeutic outcome leads to the creation of modern psychoanalysis.

Given Yalom's background as a professor emeritus of psychology at Stanford University, the novel serves as a literary assessment of the history of psychoanalytic philosophy and practice.

Thus, thematically, the novel deals with fear, despair, desire, mental illness, medical treatment, psychotherapy, hypnosis, and limerence (romantic obsession). When Nietzsche Cried was adapted into a feature film in 2007 by Millennium Films.

Summary

The story begins in Vienna in 1882. The famous 40-year-old Jewish doctor, Josef Breuer, is welcomed at a café by Lou Salome, a beautiful Russian lady. Lou tells Dr. Breuer that his close friend, a young man named Friedrich Nietzsche, urgently needs treatment for his migraines.

Lou claims that Dr. Breuer is the only person who can deliver Nietzsche from his suicidal despair caused by an illness the doctors cannot identify. Lou cannot bear to see the world lose one of its budding philosophers.

In this way, Lou convinces Dr. Breuer to examine Nietzsche, provided he keeps her involvement a secret. She also asks Dr. Breuer to keep her status as a doctor a secret.

Dr. Breuer and Nietzsche

Dr. Breuer believes that he can cure Nietzsche's problem by means of a new method that he calls "treatment by speech".

Nietzsche reluctantly travels to Vienna to be examined by Dr. Breuer. Morose and hostile, Nietzsche declares that he cannot benefit from treatment in a clinic. Later, Dr. Breuer is called to Nietzsche's guesthouse room, where he finds the philosopher dying on the floor.

Contudio, Dr. Breuer counsels Nietzsche overnight until he recovers from his violent migraines. Nietzsche then warms up and agrees to remain in Dr. Breuer's care for a month, under one condition.

Through the conversation, Dr. Breuer must allow Nietzsche to help him with his despair, just as Dr. Breuer is helping Nietzsche with his.

Curing process

On his way home, Dr. Breuer decides that this radical new treatment suggested by Nietzsche might be useful. Considering that his marriage to Mathilde is in a very bad state and that he is losing the will to live, Dr. Breuer decides to act as a patient as well as a doctor.

At first, the daily therapy sessions between the two men are a bit complicated and contentious, but as time goes on, they shed their personal baggage and become more comfortable with each other.

In this way, secrets are shared, fears deeply seeded, existential desires and anxieties are discussed, and soon a healing process is underway for Nietzsche and Dr. Breuer.

Nietzsche encourages Dr. Breuer

Nietzsche is romantically obsessed with Lou Salome, while Dr. Breuer fantasizes about leaving his wife for a former patient named Bertha Pappenheim.

Like Nietzsche, Dr. Breuer treated Bertha with the "speech treatment," falling in love with her along the way. Thus, two men share these carnal passions with each other, noting how much of their lives have been hijacked by such oppressive desires.

Dr. Breuer wastes hours obsessing over his desire for Bertha, which diminishes his ability to be a loving father and husband. However, Dr. Breuer can neither eat nor sleep; all he wants to do is leave his life behind and start over with Bertha in Italy. Thus, Nietzsche encourages Dr. Breuer to act on his wishes before time runs out.

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Nietzsche and Dr. Breuer visit the cemetery

Dr. Breuer consults his close friend and medical student Sigmund Freud. In this way, Dr. Breuer bounces ideas off his young disciple in exchange for assisting Freud in his studies. However, Freud is intrigued by Dr. Breuer's therapy sessions with Nietzsche.

After Nietzsche and Dr. Breuer visit a cemetery one day, in which Dr. Breuer's mother, father, and brother were buried, Nietzsche realizes that the doctor's mother's name was Bertha.

This opens up a philosophical well of unexplored emotion regarding the unconscious fear of growing old, dying, regretting and abandoning the past.

Freud hypnotizes Dr. Breuer

Arriving home, Dr. Breuer calls Freud to come and hypnotize him. Freud does so, and while Dr. Breuer is under hypnosis, he fulfills his fantasy of leaving his family for a life with Bertha in Italy.

Dr. Breuer emphasizes deliberate decision making as a means to achieve happiness: choosing a vocation, who to marry, where to live, etc. When Dr. Breuer comes to his senses, he realizes that he has already (subconsciously) actualized the life he has always dreamed of.

In this way, through hypnotherapy, Dr. Breuer purges his obsession with Bertha and begins to walk the path of healing.

When Nietzsche cried

After hypnosis and recovered, Dr. Breuer can adequately treat Nietzsche's obsession with Lou Salome. Nevertheless, Nietzsche cries and laments his unsatisfactory life, expressing his desire to live normally.

Nietzsche confesses that the root of his despair and obsession is autophobia (fear of being alone). When Dr. Breuer admits that Lou Salome was behind all the therapeutic treatment, Nietzsche is stunned.

In an ironic twist, Nietzsche realizes that he is leading the same life he chose as a boy and must now live out the rest of his days as a lonely, isolated philosopher. However, in having this epiphany, Nietzsche manages to shake off his obsession with Lou Salome and continues his vocation as a philosophical scribe.

Final thoughts on the film " When Nietzsche cried"

The film gives us insight into Nietzsche's life. It is worth watching for those interested in the philosopher's life, however, it is not a film for those who want to sit back and relax, as it conveys deep philosophical arguments about life and existence.

With a narrative power worthy of the best suspense, When Nietzsche Cried certainly proposes a new history of the birth of psychoanalysis, so come and be part of this enchanting world by enrolling in our online psychoanalysis course and improve your knowledge.