A number of things bothered me about this two-hander. First, you have two actors I love (Matthew Goode playing C.S. Lewis and Anthony Hopkins playing Sigmund Freud), but they’re given a horrible screenplay. [Fun fact: Hopkins once also played C.S. Lewis on screen]. Also, this meeting of two intellectual minds never actually took place. It’s more of a “what if.” And that’s fine. I have no problem if someone makes a movie where a time machine is built, and Einstein goes back in time and meets Sir Isaac Newton, and they chat for a few hours; but they better say some interesting sh**. In this movie, it’s just sh**. The conversations they have about the existence of God were like similar conversations I had in 8th grade, with my friend Bob Salomon’s mother who was a hardcore Christian. She thought I would go to Hell because I let her son borrow my Led Zeppelin albums and idolized Jimmy Page over Jesus Christ. I told her if there was a god, he’d understand my appreciation of someone shredding on a sunburst Gibson Les Paul. I also asked her why god let’s people get raped and murdered everyday. We argued these types of things often, and in a much more interesting way than these two brilliant actors.
This story takes place in 1939. Germany and England are at war. C.S. Lewis visits Freud, who doesn’t have much longer to live. The two debate religion. All of this based on the book “The Question of God” which became a play.
Since their debate on God doesn’t bring anything up that’s new, I was looking forward to the various subplots. One of those deals with Freud’s daughter Anna (Liv Lisa Fries), also a professor, who is a lesbian. I suppose that with her girlfriend Dorothy (Jodi Balfour), we’re supposed to be intrigued as to how the guy who revolutionized how we look at sexuality, would have a few hang-ups of his own regarding the homosexuality of his daughter.
Other times, we see bombings taking place as WWII starts, and folks going to bomb shelters.
Anyway, it’s baffling that the filmmakers felt that lines like: “If God is unable to prevent evil, then he is not all-powerful” would be that powerful to say. Again, we had these conversations as teenagers, with our friends of different faiths or atheists.
There are moments of silence that are interesting, because we wonder what these people are thinking. Hopkins also throws in his laugh, which is perfect. Yet once they open their mouths to debate, you cringe. It’s also interesting that Lewis seems to be holding back a bit, seeing that Freud isn’t in the best of health.
I can’t imagine who would find this movie entertaining. Theologians won’t be interested. Atheists won’t care. And fans of these two brilliant actors won’t be entertained. It’s a two hour borefest.
1 star out of 5.