Freud's Last Session (2023)

Set in London on the eve of the Second World War, the film presents a compelling imagined conversation between two towering twentieth-century minds: Sigmund Freud (portrayed by Anthony Hopkins), the pioneering psychoanalyst, and C. S. Lewis (played by Matthew Goode), the renowned Christian author and thinker. Two days after Britain declares war on Germany, Freud extends an invitation to Lewis, drawing him into a private and intense intellectual debate over the existence of God, the meaning of suffering, and the nature of human faith and reason.

Freud, now in exile from Vienna and grappling with the ravages of oral cancer and his imminent mortality, inhabits a world on the brink — bombs, anxious radio broadcasts and the ghost of war press in from outside his study.  Lewis arrives--a recently converted Christian, still haunted by his experiences in the First World War--and finds himself drawn into Freud’s relentless probing of belief, doubt and the unconscious.  Scenes interweave their present dialogue with glimpses of personal pasts: Freud’s intense relationship with his daughter Anna Freud, Lewis’s trauma and friendships, and the private corners of each man’s emotional life.

What makes this film particularly arresting is how it offers more than a historical “what-if” meeting. It’s a layered character piece, combining the gravitas of high-stakes intellectual exchange with the vulnerability of two men facing their limits. Freud’s razor-sharp skepticism clashes with Lewis’s earnest conviction, giving the audience a front-row seat to a battle of ideas that still resonates today.

Beyond the debate, the film’s atmospheric backdrop is a major draw: the fog-shrouded streets of 1939 London, the tension of war looming, and the confined setting of Freud’s study give the drama an intimate yet ominous feel. Visual and temporal shifts, flashbacks, and subtle fantasy elements allow the narrative to expand beyond the talking room into memory and inner life.

For audiences, the appeal is many-fold: two powerhouse actors inhabiting legendary figures; a smart, idea-driven script adapted from a successful stage play; and themes that go beyond biography to ask universal questions about belief, mortality, identity and the search for meaning. Whether you love historical drama, psychological inquiry, philosophical debate or simply rich performances, Freud’s Last Session offers a thoughtful, provocative cinematic experience worth watching.