The Secret Diary of Sigmund Freud

Dr. Freud discovers psychotherapy, hypnotism and free association--cribbing terms and ideas from his patients, girlfriend and mother along the way. Low-budget comedy is so clumsy and inept, it almost looks like a bad foreign film. It was a good idea to pair Bud Cort with Carol Kane--both run on the same type of irreverent energy--and Carroll Baker is a hoot as Freud's mother, but the biggest surprise is Marisa Berenson as a scheming patient of Freud's who turns every man into a paying customer(Berenson is just winging it here, but she's clearly relishing the opportunity to play a wicked vixen). The lighting and cinematography(if you can actually call it that)is so poor that the actors look chalky and pasty--deadly for a pseudo-bawdy comedy. It's hard to laugh when everyone looks so pallid.

I've seen funnier movies and I was at first thinking, oh no, it's a terrible vehicle for Carol Kane, Carol Baker, and Bud Cort. But it seduced me with humor. I overlooked the "European Farce" sense of humor and just went with it. Discovered many, many thought provoking gems that actually resonated with what I've read about the Freud phenomenon that explores our hidden thoughts and desires, according to his own neuroses. I've read serious writers that describe his distaste for blood and avoidance of established medical fields for that reason. It seems obvious that you can't establish scientific theories and test them if the data is hidden in disparate peoples unconscious. Most recently I've looked into his foot fetish ideas concerning a bas relief in the ruins of Pompeii. The film is not for serious admirers of psychoanalysis. It's a romp of making fun of Freud's theories and the wit is sharp. Dick Shawn was super. The ladies were enjoyable to watch.

So the script is not the wittiest, still THE SECRET DIARY OF SIGMUND FREUD has so many rewarding moments that it's fun to watch just to wait for the next big laugh.

BUD CORT reflects on the influences that made him a renowned psychiatrist--mostly stemming from childhood (his father never remembers his name), his mother (hilarious performance by CARROLL BAKER), his various failures while training as an intern unable to cope with blood, and finally, his success with patients who inspire him to discover free association, hypnosis, split personalities, etc. MARISA BERENSON does a fantastic job as the young woman under hypnosis after suggesting that Freud move the watch back and forth.

DICK SHAWN has great fun with playing six different personalities--including Napoleon, Santa Claus and the Archangel Gabriel--and CAROL KANE is marvelous as the love-struck nursing assistant who hopes she isn't being too forward in declaring that she's been lusting after Freud since she first set eyes on him and intends to be his wife.

Cort plays Freud with a wild and sometimes bewildered stare, his boundless energy and comic flair serving him well even when the script is beyond silly. He is never out of character and is the focal point of the whole film even when Dick Shawn is doing his wildly funny stint.

As long as you're not expecting a great script, there are enough reasons to watch this one for pure relaxation and good spirits. True, it's beyond silly but there are some genuinely rib-tickling moments.

Not a good film by any means, The Secret Diary of Sigmund Freud's best attributes are the CAMPY performances of its veteran camp cast. Carol Kane is as adorable as always, though many of her lines are, like the rest of the script, predictable and uninspiring. Perhaps the saddest aspect of this film, however, is the fact that it was the last major film with the brilliant Klaus Kinski, and his role was so far from a signature piece it's almost an embarrassment.

The plot is pretty silly, and follows a very predictable formula. Sigmund Freud is shown as a young doctor full of neuroses about blood and various other things doctors are not supposed to be concerned with. As he grows into the profession he more or less invented, hypnotism of his patients yields their own self-diagnoses, and he gets rich and famous writing down his patients' ideas. within the last ten minutes or so, a plot develops, simply so the film can end properly, but it's far too late.

Overall, I would characterize this film as tedious. Unlike a few others who have reviewed it, I don't think it really had any potential to begin with, though I did enjoy some of Carol Kane's scenes. My advice is to avoid this one.

Imagine my surprise when I saw that Carol Kane was born in Cleveland ! She always plays the wacky, offbeat characters (Taxi, Scrooged, and so many more) with a foreign accent. "Freud" has a similar timing to Blazing Saddles, but with weaker jokes, and relatively unknown actors. Turns out that Greene, the director, was nominated for Oscars in editing... for Blazing Saddles, and MASH ! This was the only film Greene directed, and after watching this, we know why. The jokes and the story move V-E-R-Y slowly. Our star, Bud Cort, (from Harold & Maude) is Freud, and we observe his awkward interactions with everyone as he grows up. Cadavers, family, professors, friends. He realizes he is not cut out to be a medical doctor, and stumbles into psychiatry.

Some funny jokes here and there, and lots of sight gags and plays-on-words. A huge member on a horse, just a couple minutes in, and the nun (Kane) with a megaphone. Chimney sweep jokes. Dick Shawn in some over the top characters... many connections to Mel Brooks here. It gets better as it goes along, fun to watch on a Saturday afternoon. It needed Madeline Kahn or some other big names to zing it up. Caught this one on fox movie channel.