Although I am no fan of psychoanalysis and Freud, this film is worth a watch for the cinematographic techniques and the visuals. The story is a bit bland, but it does give the viewer a taste of what psychoanalysis is.
My favourite scene would definitely have to be the dream scene, hands down. Every section of the dream is so well done that I wonder how Pabst filmed such things. There are some crazy things going on like a gate that grows really high, the husband (Krauss) flying and then getting shot down, a montage of his wife (Weyher) and friend/wife's cousin, and the baby coming out of the river are surreal. I really can't come up with another word to describe the dream scene. My personal favourite out of all these has to be when the bells turn into heads. I can't really figure out who the head on left belongs to (I think it's either a nurse or someone who works in his house), but the one in the center is his wife and the one on the right is his assistant (Walther). When I first saw the scene, I almost yelped because it creeped me out and it really must have been a terrifying thing to see because apparently the laughter was something that the protagonist (the husband) couldn't get out of his head. I wish that I can supply more screencaps from this film, but then it would just crowd up the entry. Oh well. Going on, the dream really brings together events from past, present, and his unconscious because the presents he received from his wife's cousin (Trevor) are in the scene, the creepy doll/baby reflects the protagonist's want for a child but also reflects a scene from his childhood, the totally crazy wife-stabbing scene triggers the protagonist's fear of knives, his jealousy over his wife's cousin, and his odd impulse to kill his wife.
Throughout the film there are various motifs, repetitions and recreation of certain scenes, and symbolism. The very first motif in this film would be knives. The very first shot of the movie is of the husband's razor and whenever there is a knife/sharp object in the scene, it is always emphasized with an insert shot. Most of the time, the ones that usually have an insert shot are shown twice: the first time is when the husband isn't scared of them and the second time is when the husband is afraid to touch or see them. So what could this mean? It seems silly to be scared of knives, right? This is when the psychoanalytic part comes in. His fear of knives symbolize his insecurity about his masculinity. Out of all the knives, the one that the cousin gives him is the biggest and longest one and his jealousy of his wife's cousin is exposed later in the film. This could be tied into him being insecure because he still does not have a child and of course, the knife can be a phallic symbol. In Picture 3, the shadow you see is of the cousin and notice where his head is? Yes, between the wife's legs! And then it cuts to the husband's face where he look uncomfortable to see the shadow. In addition to the whole knife = masculinity argument, his fear of knives makes him even less masculine because he becomes a little kid who can't take care of himself. His mother has to cut his food for him when he isn't there and on top of that, she cuts them into little pieces! Now that I think about it, a lot of the motifs refer to the husband's want for a child and not having one, which connects to his masculinity. I can list quite a few, but I'll just discuss one more! The prison bars/gates in the dream scene prevent the husband from going to certain places, particularly places where his wife and her cousin are. Gates would prevent him from going near his wife and her cousin multiple times in the main dream scene and in his other one where his wife is part of an orgy-like scene. In a scene of the present, there is a scene when the husband returns home and the psychoanalyst says that he looks reluctant to go back to his own house. The gate is what separates him from his wife and her cousin inside the house. Maybe he doesn't want to go because he's scared that he'll see them together like he saw in his dream. Another thought I had was that the gate was also a symbol of how he will reach his cure. By meeting the psychoanalyst and having the psychoanalyst returning the key so that he can go home, the psychoanalyst is "opening the gate" to his cure. Just a thought. And talking about symbolism, see Picture 1 because the tree represents the couple's marriage and their hopes for a child, but while the tree grows, they don't have a real child.
My favourite scene would definitely have to be the dream scene, hands down. Every section of the dream is so well done that I wonder how Pabst filmed such things. There are some crazy things going on like a gate that grows really high, the husband (Krauss) flying and then getting shot down, a montage of his wife (Weyher) and friend/wife's cousin, and the baby coming out of the river are surreal. I really can't come up with another word to describe the dream scene. My personal favourite out of all these has to be when the bells turn into heads. I can't really figure out who the head on left belongs to (I think it's either a nurse or someone who works in his house), but the one in the center is his wife and the one on the right is his assistant (Walther). When I first saw the scene, I almost yelped because it creeped me out and it really must have been a terrifying thing to see because apparently the laughter was something that the protagonist (the husband) couldn't get out of his head. I wish that I can supply more screencaps from this film, but then it would just crowd up the entry. Oh well. Going on, the dream really brings together events from past, present, and his unconscious because the presents he received from his wife's cousin (Trevor) are in the scene, the creepy doll/baby reflects the protagonist's want for a child but also reflects a scene from his childhood, the totally crazy wife-stabbing scene triggers the protagonist's fear of knives, his jealousy over his wife's cousin, and his odd impulse to kill his wife.
Throughout the film there are various motifs, repetitions and recreation of certain scenes, and symbolism. The very first motif in this film would be knives. The very first shot of the movie is of the husband's razor and whenever there is a knife/sharp object in the scene, it is always emphasized with an insert shot. Most of the time, the ones that usually have an insert shot are shown twice: the first time is when the husband isn't scared of them and the second time is when the husband is afraid to touch or see them. So what could this mean? It seems silly to be scared of knives, right? This is when the psychoanalytic part comes in. His fear of knives symbolize his insecurity about his masculinity. Out of all the knives, the one that the cousin gives him is the biggest and longest one and his jealousy of his wife's cousin is exposed later in the film. This could be tied into him being insecure because he still does not have a child and of course, the knife can be a phallic symbol. In Picture 3, the shadow you see is of the cousin and notice where his head is? Yes, between the wife's legs! And then it cuts to the husband's face where he look uncomfortable to see the shadow. In addition to the whole knife = masculinity argument, his fear of knives makes him even less masculine because he becomes a little kid who can't take care of himself. His mother has to cut his food for him when he isn't there and on top of that, she cuts them into little pieces! Now that I think about it, a lot of the motifs refer to the husband's want for a child and not having one, which connects to his masculinity. I can list quite a few, but I'll just discuss one more! The prison bars/gates in the dream scene prevent the husband from going to certain places, particularly places where his wife and her cousin are. Gates would prevent him from going near his wife and her cousin multiple times in the main dream scene and in his other one where his wife is part of an orgy-like scene. In a scene of the present, there is a scene when the husband returns home and the psychoanalyst says that he looks reluctant to go back to his own house. The gate is what separates him from his wife and her cousin inside the house. Maybe he doesn't want to go because he's scared that he'll see them together like he saw in his dream. Another thought I had was that the gate was also a symbol of how he will reach his cure. By meeting the psychoanalyst and having the psychoanalyst returning the key so that he can go home, the psychoanalyst is "opening the gate" to his cure. Just a thought. And talking about symbolism, see Picture 1 because the tree represents the couple's marriage and their hopes for a child, but while the tree grows, they don't have a real child.