FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION

IFTA AWARDS 2024

Freud's Last Session

Freud invites iconic author C.S. Lewis to debate the existence of God. And his unique relationship with his daughter, and Lewis' unconventional relationship with his best friend's mother.

Director: Matt Brown

Writer: Matt Brown, based on the play by Mark St. Germain

Producers: Alan Greisman, Hannah Leader, Tristan Lynch, Rick Nicita, Vladyslav Riashyn, Robert Stillman, Meg Thomson

Filmmaker Q&A

What do you hope audiences will take away from the film?

• Matthew Brown (Director): “We live in a strange, surreal age that is ideologically polarized, with everyone stuck in their own tribes. There’s no respect for others’ points of view — and yet a real dialogue with others is exactly what people seem to be thirsting for. In the film, we have these two titans with diametrically opposed points of view who choose to respectfully battle out their differences over God.
  
  The beauty of the story is that while there are no answers, it’s only through conversation that personal growth becomes possible for each of them. I wanted to make a film that was emotional, thought-provoking, and creative, that asked big questions, and looked deeply at the heart of all human condition: Love, faith, and mortality. We are all lacking answers that we can only try to seek from within. In FREUD’S LAST SESSION, audiences experience their own cathartic journey faced with these same questions.”

To what extent was your on-screen talent vital to the success of the film?

• Matthew Brown: "Anthony Hopkins and Matthew Goode’s portrayal of two men grappling with ideas and eventual respect was built upon each actor’s meeting the other at the top of their game. “There’s such a great chemistry between the two of them, and that's something that you can't direct — you just have to pray it’s there. And it was. 
  
  In preparation for the film, Orla Brady and I talked a lot about religion and being Irish and what Janie Moore would have been dealing with at that time, the history and the context of all of that — and what it would have meant for Janie and Lewis. Orla came in and very quickly captured the portrayal of Janie. It’s a difficult thing to play a character over the course of some 30 years. That’s never easy, but Orla Brady did it with such grace. In the end so much of it is just in the performance, and Orla brings it”.