Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis and a believer in the power of the unconscious mind, became obsessed in the last years of his life with the biblical story of Moses and wrote a book reinterpreting it, Moses and Monotheism, on his death-bed.
These writings form the basis of the new film Moses, which had its world premiere in the Tiger competition at the Rotterdam International Film Festival. A madcap and cryptic journey through a few of the most influential ideas to underpin religion, psychotherapy and Western art, it is made by Finnish performance artists and filmmakers Jenni and Lauri Luhta, who previously explored the prophecies of Leonardo da Vinci in their debut feature The Deluge (2021).
The pair took on almost all aspects of the production of Moses themselves, including the roles of Freud (Jenni, in white beard and elegant three-piece suit, narrates monologues from Freud’s 1939 volume) and Moses (a wild-haired, scowling Lauri.) In other hands, such a concept could have spawned something ponderous, but there is such a delightful streak of deadpan, absurdist Finnish wit to all of this that any pretension that might have weighed it down is defused from the very start. This is not an easy film to make sense of — but taken as an immersive experience it is eccentric, alluring and mesmeric, a dreamlike drift that celebrates the process of intellectual searching rather than any definitive answer, and the therapy of talking as a meaning-making bulwark against the dark forces of persecution. The great Jewish thinker’s flight from Vienna, his home for 78 years, to exile in London, where he finished Moses and Monotheism as the Nazis consolidated their power through Europe, is also detailed. Moses may well confound mainstream tastes, but it’s an idea-packed oddity that should find ample interest from festivals with space at the more experimental, offbeat end of the spectrum.
Freud caused a stir with his writings in Moses and Monotheism by suggesting that the prophet Moses may have been a member of ancient Egyptian nobility, rather than a Hebrew slave. The film considers this hypothesis and other mysteries of history, including whether Moses was a real person who once existed, or simply a legend. The founding of monotheism in Judaism, continued in Christianity, and the religious intolerance that came with it, is mused on. So is Original Sin and its fantasy of redemption through sacrificial death, with Freud contending that the murder of Moses resulted in repressed collective guilt.
The elaborate tangents and esoteric cartographies of these speculations are hard to keep track of for anyone not already steeped in the history of religion and its teachings (and probably even for those who are). But it scarcely matters, as a restless camera scans over biblical iconography and pictures of Egypt, the Sinai and Palestine, and almost psychedelic renderings take us through mythical moments from the Torah and Old Testament (the Burning Bush, where Moses was called to lead the Israelites out of Egypt, is unforgettably envisaged).
The intricately layered, out-there sound design and visually hypnotic, collage-style assemblage of still imagery together creates an almost tangible sense of the power that these stories, in all their contested amendments and retellings, have had over human behaviour for centuries. Smoke rising from a glass ashtray contributes to a very textured, evocative atmosphere that stands in stark contrast to drier, more static essay films. Seated on her chair in a studio shot with an inky, painterly quality, Jenni as she recites the monologues is both preposterous and brilliant as Freud, kooky casting infused with the kind of playful audacity that carries the whole film. The directors of Moses seem to respect that enigma and impossible mystery lie at the heart of the games of psychology, faith and art, so do not concern themselves with simple explanations.
Directors, screenwriters, producers, cast, production design, sound design, world sales: Jennia Lauta, Lauri Lauta
Cinematographer, editor: Jenni Lauta
Music: Timo Viialainen, Jenni Luhta
Venue: Rotterdam (Tiger Competition)
In English
94 minutes
