A Therapy

It's astonishing to me how people watch this pedophile's movies still. Wonder how many of the positive reviews are from people with kids... On March 10, 1977, then-43-year-old film director Roman Polanski was arrested and charged in Los Angeles with six offenses against Samantha (née Gailey) Geimer, a 13-year-old girl - unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor, rape by use of drugs, perversion, sodomy, a lewd and lascivious act upon a child under 14, and furnishing a controlled substance to a minor. At his arraignment, Polanski pleaded not guilty to all charges but later accepted a plea bargain whose terms included dismissal of the five more serious charges in exchange for a guilty plea to the lesser charge of engaging in unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor.

I don't know if in real life psychiatrists sometimes or often they get easily distracted by something while attending their clients/patients. In TV shows and movies such fact happens almost all the time. In the short film "A Therapy" the distractive element is what counts, it's what gives the movie's purpose: to sell a famous mark.

Ben Kingsley plays a psychiatrist who gets lost in amazement for a Prada coat wore by his patient (Helena Bonham Carter), a lovely and filled with doubts character of whom, just like the doctor, we stop caring about her problems just to be spelled by the beauty of the coat, supplemented by a beautiful music that over sounds her words.

Directed by Roman Polanski (who worte it along with Oscar winning screenwriter Ronald Harwood), "A Therapy" is a powerful reminder of what good commercials truly are. Propaganda is something so predictable, trapped in usual formats, and sometimes so careless that it loses its good and sometimes valuable purpose of selling. Our instinct is to avoid all of them, whatever if it's on TV or on YouTube or popping out in the net. "A Therapy" is too long (with its four minutes) to be a suitable promo to be shown on regular TV but it's certainly a spectacular one. Not everyone can buy something from Prada but this film is so carefully made that, even if you don't need anything from the brand, you'll definitely wanna wear it, to feel in ecstasy just like the doctor feels. Complete.

There isn't much you can get from this except the exceptional acting by Kingsley and Carter, and the classy sense of humor from Polanski. First rate. 10/10

A Theropy (2014)

*** (out of 4)

Roman Polanski's second commercial has yet two more respectable actors willing to have some fun. A patient (Helena Bonham Carter) walks into her psychiatrist (Ben Kingsley) office where she begins to tell him about a dream she had. While he should be paying attention, his mind is on the Prada coat that she wore in and hung up. While she continues to talk he decides to go over and feel the coat. This isn't quite as funny as the GREED commercial but it's still very much worth watching and especially for the performance of Kingsley. He doesn't get to say anything but the great actor that he is manages to make us understand everything he's thinking and feeling. Just look at his eyes when he looks over to see the coat for the first time. The three-minute film is quite funny and worth watching if you're a fan of the three talents.