Empathy
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Empathy
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Review by Shelley Cameron
for Reel Movie Critic
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HH ½
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Directed by Amie Siegel. Documentary. 96 Minutes.
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Chicago filmmaker Amie Siegel combines fiction with documentary to examine the relationship between client and therapist, audience and movie, and their roles in the psychotherapy relationship. In interviews with three real-life PhDs, and through one fictional pairing of a woman and her doctor, Siegel probes the nature of the dynamic, specifically male therapists and female patients. With a subtext that explores the role of authority in a contrived relationship, this interesting piece targets the group of doctors, who received their training using the traditional Freudian style blank-slate model. These therapists mostly began their clinical work on the cusp of more recent trends in psychotherapy, approaching clients as equals or even friends. The candor of the therapists may come as a surprise to many who have been on the other side of the couch. Adding a capricious but compelling layer to the mix is a segment exploring the role of architecture and furniture design in therapy. Some perfectly logical, if unexpected, theories arise.