The Treatment

I grabbed this off the shelf without much thought but was generally pleased with it as a selection. It is the story of a single Manhattan high school teacher who is in psychotherapy. The film makes good use of fantasy by startling us with

imaginary interventions by his extraordinarily aggressive and ribald therapist at dramatic junctures during his day.

While the leading character, Jake, has experienced a romantic disappointment in an earlier relationship, the main thrust of his therapy seems directed at a battle against mediocrity. Apparently, a

career as a high school teacher does not count as success. Apparently also, the elderly therapist considers a year without sex a major red flag. Apart from these shortcomings, Jake seems to conduct himself cautiously but extremely well, leaving me wondering about the correctness of his mediocrity.

This film does a good job of representing older people, for example the therapist and Jake's father, as well as others, as something else besides useless. Here they are accepted enough to assert themselves, their intelligence is respected and occasionally heeded.

The plot held my attention through its twists and turns. Two points I felt were a lapse into hackneyed stereotypes involved the feminism of his lover, Allegra. To begin with, she initiates the first sex (even though things seemed to be proceeding along nicely) and routinely assumes the aggressive role after that as well. I questioned whether this would really be cool in real life. I suppose this could be taken as the otherwise lacking evidence of his neurosis by accepting it except that it is all her actions.

Secondly, after they have had frequent and mutually gratifying sex, get along great, he well on his way to being accepted by her two children, and to cap it all off she is about to lose custody of her young daughter because the adoption stipulated a two-parent household-- with all this in play she rejects his heartfelt proposal of marriage because she is 'not ready' just a year after becoming a widow. These two facts might suggest that she, a rich woman, was using him as a convenience. However, the rest of her character as portrayed does not support that at all. Instead the flick is merely waving a PC flag of liberated woman-- even when it is absurd-- to garner brownie points.

Ultimately however, all such complexity of living is suddenly swept away in a traditional happily-ever-after romantic ending--but one so hasty that I definitely felt they were running out of film. I don't want to sound like I would entirely re-engineer the film, but I definitely felt it was going somewhere else.

But these are lapses in authenticity in a film notable for authenticity. It is an engaging and often quite funny flick.

Somewhere between adaptation and shooting, the magic leaped out of this film. The synopsis looked promising and it could have delivered, but it seems that poor casting choices and spotty dialog made it fall short. The leading man isn't quite convincing on film. His technique feels more fit for stage, but when on screen you see an actor and not a character. Famke Janssen and Ian Holm are the two bright spots in the nigh hour-and-a-half feature. Holm was the one actor who garnered a laugh. But they both seem out of place, heavy hitters in a smaller film. It could be that a bigger star was set to play Chris, but dropped out, leaving the film with less studio support while Famke and Ian stayed on. This film has gone on to win some festival awards, which makes me wonder if I missed something, or was simply not in the right mood for the film. Nevertheless, it could have been much, much better.

The Treatment describes itself as 'a serious romantic comedy about life and love in NYC.' The main characters are Jake Singer, an anxious young schoolteacher who has broken up with his girlfriend and seems resigned to a life of mediocrity; his shrink, Dr Ernesto Morales (Ian Holm), who describes himself as the last great Freudian - 'in a line stretching from Moses to Aristotle;' and Allegra Marshall, a beautiful young socialite that takes a fancy to him.

The film aims at a serious note with the unrelenting, intrusive and almost sadistic treatment meted out by Dr Morales. Jake's baggage is all too obvious and (although there must be easier routes) the 'treatment' does show signs of working, even when Jake starts wondering if he has maybe just 'hallucinated' the encounters. A sub-plot about adoption tries to bring in some emotional ballast to fill the chasm left by Jake and Allegra's lack of on-screen chemistry.

The Treatment meanders along like an episode of Sex and the City or Frasier - only where nothing much happens. At first captivating, the endless litany of inconsequential detail and forced humour soon begins to wear. "I thought he was supposed to make you feel more comfortable in your own skin," says Allegra about Jake's analyst. "No, he's more the exfoliating type." In discussing one of Jake's favourite books, Allegra quotes a comment about the author re-drawing the landscape to place equal emphasis on what's not said. Sadly, this film has too much that is said; and that which is not said has too little substance to justify the barely relevant meanderings of school sports halls or Dr Morales' questions about sexual positions. Ian Holm delivers a fine performance, but the script, while not completely without merit, has too little to for such a great actor to get his teeth into. We are told that the lover in Jake is under-nourished and the self-pitying side over-fed: much the same could be said of this bloated, drawn-out and not particularly engaging film.

" The tratment" is a very well acted romantic comedy that relies on clever dialogue rather than outlandish set-pieces to deliver the laughs. I have to say that this movie particulary like, cause i think that Famke Janssen is one of the most attractive Holywood actresses ever. I was hooked up on her from the moument I saw her like Bond girl in "Golden eye". But many years after she proved that she can take much more seriously and demanding rolles just like in this movie. This creation is psychological romance too, which makes everything more interesting. This movie has the happy ending and strong message that good things happen the people who wait. And ofcourse, love is everything what matters.

"The Treatment" is a very well acted romantic comedy that relies on clever dialogue rather than outlandish set-pieces to deliver the laughs.

The story is simple enough - Teacher Jake befriends the young widowed mother of a student and then falls for her. Things are complicated by their different social standings, the fact that Allegra is still grieving for her recently dead husband, and Jake's visits to his psychoanalyst.

The lead actors are all excellent, but Ian Holm's character gets all the best lines in the movie as a nasty psychoanalyst trying to 'help' Jake Singer (Chris Eigeman) stop undermining his own relationships.

Famke Janssen is very, very good in this movie and her performance was my favourite of the piece. Considering the other works I've seen her in I was blown away to discover she was such a good actress.

This is a warm, funny movie that I could happily watch again.