“Sinema ve Psikanaliz -2. Kayıp ve Zaman” (Cinema and Psychoanalysis – 2. Loss and Time), the twelfth book of the Psike Istanbul Library of Psychoanalysis is out. Pscyhoanalyst Özden Terbaş has compiled various articles that trace loss/absence and time in the subject while focusing on its colorful, vocal and silent representations in the movies. The introduction part of the compilation refers to diverse experiences of loss, from the moment the subject is born and until he dies, which trigger a grief process:
“In the beginning, there is loss! When the human infant opens his eyes to the world, he loses the peace and comfort he enjoyed in the womb, and clings to life in tears. Our journey of loss continues with weaning, and ends with our last breath! Each moment of our lives inevitably drags us to a grief process; they reveal how fragile and helpless we really are, and the unconscious phantasy we hold about being immortal is greatly shaken…”
The compilation moves on to explore the relationship between the meaning of time, roots of time perception, passing of time and the life experience. In this section, also reviewed are the fundamental paradigms psychoanalysis holds for solving the riddle of time and how time is represented within the psychoanalytic treatment process. Psychoanalysis is put forward as an experience that creates depth in time perceptipn:
“… Contrary to the maternal time that is in action at the beginning of the session and offers the analysand to a phantasy world, the paternal time felt at the end of the session separates him from his inner reality, his phantasy world and re-invites him to the external reality. This experience will find its place, be processed and provide depth après coup. Just as the time of session has an ending, the time of humans have an ending as well; individuals are mortal, lacking, castrated. It developes an awareness of being in time, of being while moving towards death. This experience will enable time to be represented as a fourth dimension within the psyche… ”
The compilation initiates the movie discussions with a psychoanalytical comedy movie: Jan Švankmajer’s Surviving Life (Theory and Practice) is presented with Andrea Sabbadini’s interpretation. The first section on loss includes psychoanalytical discussions of Stephen Hopkins’ Life and Death of Peter Sellers, Tim Burton’s Big Fish, Ingmar Bergman’s Wild Strawberrries, Özcan Alper’s Sonbahar, Ouine Lecomte’s A Brand New Life, and Michael Radford’s 1984. In the second section, Alan Resnais’ Hiroshima Mon Amour, Peter Howeitt’s Sliding Doors, Mike Leigh’s Another Year, Victor Erice’sLifeline, Anne Fontaine’s Adore, Theo Angelopoulos’ Eternity and a Day, Steven Speilberg’s Artificial Intelligence, Harold Ramis’ Groundhog Day, Spike Jonze’s Her, Peter Weir’s Truman Show, and Marc Forster’s Stranger Than Fiction are elaborated as they relate to the theme of time.
Writers
ANDREA SABBADİNİ YAVUZ ERTEN YEŞİM KORKUT ÖZDEN TERBAŞ BERRAK CİĞEROĞLU NİLÜFER GÜNGÖRMÜŞ ERDEM SİBEL MERCAN İREM ANLI NAYLA DE COSTER MERAL ERTEN MELİS TANIK SİVRİ
