LOU ANDREAS-SALOMÉ, THE AUDACITY TO BE FREE

Film Review by FIORE

There is a telling scene in LOU ANDREAS-SALOMÉ, THE AUDACITY TO BE FREE, where the main character is burning parts of her autobiography, so only the best parts of her life will be told.  That is a good summation of this entire film.  Director, producer and writer Cordula Kablitz-Post (yet another of the dreaded three name people), obviously has a tender empathy for Lou and her presentation of the woman is nothing less than saintly.  Yet, if you peel away a poetic feminist agenda, Lou is a looney.

Louise Andreas-Salome is heralded as one of the first women psychoanalysts.  During her life, she had encounters with Friedrich Nietzsche, Sigmund Freud and Viktor Tausk.  Nietzsche was particularly enamored with her, proposing marriage on several occasions. While she broke ground for women, her influences were largely scuttled until adopted by feminists, long after her death.  

Lou’s story is told through various timelines, necessitating three different actresses to play the part. Liv Lisa Fries plays her to age 16, Katharina Loren takes ages 21-54, and Nicole Heesters plays her at 71.  Together, the ensemble presents a very troubled woman as she battles an identity crisis which endures until her final years.  Also in the cast are: Matthias Lier as Ernst Pfieffer; PHILIPP Hauß as Paul Rée; Alexander Scheer as an eccentric Friedrich Nietzsche and Julius Feldmeier as Rainer Rilke, Lou’s one true love.

With an abstinence twist, Lou’s life has parallels to Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley.  Mary caused scandal and shame during her time by living a ribald life with both Percy Shelley and Lord Byron.  Their exploits of lust and debauchery are legendary.  Lou opts to live with Nietzsche and Ree, but at this time in her life, she believes surrendering to passion and emotion will degenerate her intellectual prowess.  This leaves Nietzsche and Ree with an incredible blue ball dilemma, which only serves to augment their advances.  Later in life, Lou changes her philosophy and believes passion will enhance intellect, so she begins to shag everyone she meets.  Like I said, the lady was a loon.

There is a run of the mill score by Judit Varga, which does nothing to enhance the visuals.  Since it is a period piece film, kudos go to Costumer Bettina Helm, who captures the essence of the assorted time periods.  To further the historical aura of the film, Director of Photography Matthias Schellenberg shoots the film through a fogging technique.  I’m not a personal fan of fogging.  It tends to make the work look dingy, rather than historical. 

In context, Lou is a passing figure, worthy of minor note.  However, the producers have elevated her stature and attempted to harmonize it with the current women’s movement.  Instead, the film displays only the items that would deem Lou mentally unbalanced, and ignores, or glosses over any real contributions she presented to psychoanalysis.  Feminists will find something of value in LOU ANDREAS-SALOMÉ, THE AUDACITY TO BE FREE, but outside of that cult, the movie is just another celebration of a hedonistic lifestyle under the guise of freedom.