The Treatment (2006)

Director:

Oren Rudavsky

Writers:

Daniel Saul Housman (writer)
Daniel Menaker (novel)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

Tagline:

A comedy about life, love... and escaping your shrink.

Plot:

Jake Singer is at loose ends in NYC, and neck deep in psychoanalysis with the outrageous Dr. Morales when he meets the enigmatic and beautiful widow Allegra Marshall. |

Plot Keywords:

Based On Novel

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Chris Eigeman	...	Jake Singer
Stephanie March	...	Julia
Ian Holm	...	Dr. Ernesto Morales
Famke Janssen	...	Allegra Marshall
Peter Vack	...	Ted
Griffin Newman	...	Scott
Josh Barclay Caras	...	Phil
Matt Stadelmann	...	Chris
Lindsay Johnson	...	Walter Cooper
Roger Rees	...	Leighton Proctor
Stephen Lang	...	Coach Galgano
Thomas Bubka	...	Other Coach
Maddie Corman	...	Patty Mcpherson
Stephen Lee Anderson	...	Bill Daniels
Tyrone Mitchell Henderson	...	Gerry Leonard

Runtime:

USA:86 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:Not Rated | Finland:K-11 | Netherlands:12

Filming Locations:

New York, USA

Company:

Shrinkwrap

Trivia:

John Zorn who composed the score for the film won a MacArthur Foundation, the "Genius" award for his music in 2006.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Singer first meets Ms. Marshall, at some point he's having a sip of soda. Immediately in the next scene, no soda, no swallowing, no nothing.

Quotes:

Allegra Marshall: I thought he was supposed to help you feel more comfortable in your own skin?
Jake Singer: He's more the exfoliating type.

Nice idea, but not an engrossingly enough delivery for a feature film

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.