Passage à l'acte

'Death in Therapy' is a rather engaging thriller in which a psychoanalyst, Dr Riviere, is drawn into an uncertain world of danger and violence as he attempts to determine whether his patient, Berg, is telling the truth when he announces in therapy that he murdered his wife and got away with it.

The narrative belies an understanding that the "patient" is not merely a passive object of analysis, but an actively engaged subject, and in the process of demonstrating the amount of control that Berg is able to exert over his analyst 'Death in Therapy' also makes some pointed observations with regards to the largely classificatory nature of psychiatry and its "professional detachment". To some extent, this point is underlined by Berg himself; in contrast, Riviere's other patients are seen as dull, neurotic, even comedic for Riviere.

An interesting film which raises many pertinent questions.