The Soul Keeper
The Soul Keeper
| 17 January 2003 (USA)
The Soul Keeper Trailers

Zurich, 1905. 19-year-old Russian Sabina Spielrein is put by her parents in a psychiatric hospital, suffering from a severe form of hysteria and refusing to eat. A compassionate doctor, Carl Gustav Jung, takes her under his care and, for the first time, experiments with the psychoanalytical method of his teacher Sigmund Freud. Thus is born a sweeping story of love and passion, of body and soul, soaring to the utmost heights, but also plunging to the darkest depths of the 20th century.

Reviews
Claudio Carvalho

In the present days, Maria Spielrein (Caroline Trousselard) and Fraser (Craig Ferguson) are in Russia making a research about the life of Sabina Spielrein (Emilia Fox). In the beginning of the Twentieth Century, this Russian girl was a patient treated by Dr. Jung (Iain Glen) and later they fall in love for each other and Sabina became his lover. While the researchers read the documents, the romance between Sabina and Dr. Jung is disclosed, in a time of revolution and war."Prendimi l'anima" is a sensitive and very beautiful romance. In accordance with the DVD, the attractive story is based on true events, and the movie has a wonderful cinematography and costume design. The direction is excellent and Emilia Fox is fantastic in the role of a crazy patient and obsessive lover. I am not sure whether the screenplay is original, since it recalled me Neil LaBute's "Possession", of the same year, with Gwyneth Paltrow and Aaron Eckhart and showing two parallel in time romances, but anyway watching "Prendimi l'anima" is worthwhile. My vote is eight.Title (Brazil): "Jornada da Alma" ("Jouney of the Soul")

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a-f-1

Masterpiece-Woderful description of characters and background.Sabina Spielrein was,no doubt,a very special woman,and this film succeeds in doing justice with her sake,and especially with her extraordinary achievements in psychoanalysis therapy.The romantic affair she had with Dr.Jung is described powerfully by Faenza,and its ending is really heart-touching.Each main character gets a deep and full description-Dr.Jung,his methods of treatment and his complicated relationship with Sabina;Emma,that can't be judged of trying to save her family from being destroyed;and above all-Sabina herself,especially the development of her relationship with Dr.Jung,from being a patient into passion and true love.She gave her noble proof that her love was real,by letting him to choose his way,and still regarding him as a friend.The tragic destiny of Sabina is part of the Jewish tragedy during the 20th century,disappointed by the cruelty of the post-Lenin period in Russia,and later on-the Nazi holocaust.The history background is also very well told,without interrupting the plot itself.Everything here is told sensitively,and is very well acted.Emilia Fox gives here a wonderful performance,along the different situations of Sabina's complicated character and life.As Faenza made justice with Sabina's sake-we owe him.Faenza,you created a real masterpiece, and we salute you!

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Staffan Larsson (sl-22)

At the end of the film there is a text blurb mentioning that Spielrein's theoretical work influenced both Freud and Jung. Unfortunately, in the Scandinavian DVD edition this was mistranslated to the effect that Spielrein's work was *influenced by* both Freud and Jung. Apparently the idea that a woman could have influenced the work of these great men is still so far-fetched that the translator misread (in a most Freudian way) the text. Of course, having seen the film one could forgive the translator for not appreciating the impact of Spielrein's work, since it receives little, if any, attention in the script.(BTW, There is also a (less Freudian) error in the sound editing, for about 15 minutes of the DVD edition the sound lags about one minute behind. Just so you know.)

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lcr

This movie *could* have been much more than it was. We have two historical figures, psychiatrist Karl Gustav Jung, and a gifted patient, Sabina Spielrein, who first becomes Jung's lover, and then a child psychiatrist in her own right. I had been hoping for deep psychological insight, instead I got a cartoonish loony (Sabina) and a starchy doctor (K.G. Jung). The characters are over-simplified, and their complex relationship is dumbed down to Harlequin Romance level. Furthermore, Sabina's life in Russia and her accomplishments are barely even mentioned in the movie. The subplot with Marie and Frazer (the present-day researchers) is 100% unnecessary, too. So, in the end you are left with a pleasant, if sleepy, non-controversial movie, suitable for airing on national tv at prime time. Come to think of it, maybe this is what they had in mind all along...

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