Frann Michel and Jan Haaken reviews Augustine, a new film written and directed by Alice Winocour. The film tells the semi-historical story of Augustine, a 19th Century French maid, who is struck with a neurological condition that gives her seizures, and how she is received by famous neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot for study and ostensibly for care. Frann points out that the story largely focuses on a "Freudian reading" of the idea that hysteria is a symptom of sexual repression, which is a rather narrow perspective on the phenomena . Jan argues that the genuine good that Charcot contributed toward in his rigorous studies of neurological disorders, and how they helped to make women's suffering more visible and de-gendering hysteria, is not done justice.
- KBOO