Michael Nouri and Lindsay Wagner are excellent in this portrayal of upper class domestic violence. While thinking about this film and studying the unconscious, subconscious and conscious minds, it occurred to me that John started abusing his wife, not because of anything innately wrong with him. Charlotte did not commit her verbal acts of aggression or compliance because of anything innately defective in her, they both were the victims of the unconscious thoughts and feelings of possibly their parents or other authority figures in their lives. Carl Jung mentions this in his book, Man and His Symbols, pg. 192, "...whenever one of these personifications of the unconscious takes possession of our mind, it seems as if we ourselves are having such thoughts and feelings. The ego identifies with them to the point where it is unable to detach them and see them for what they are. One is really possessed by the figure from the unconscious. Only after the possession has fallen away does one realize with horror that one has done and said things diametrically opposed to one's real thoughts and feelings - that one has been the prey of an alien psychic factor." This of course was also true for Jung himself as he was a student of Freud's. The Veteran's Administration also has documented information of a similar nature in their International Handbook of Traumatic Stress Syndromes.
My concern is whether this type of film truly offers any healing to the viewer who may also have been a victim of a similar situation as it can desensitize one to abuse. For those who suffer PTSD, I think viewing a similar traumatic circumstance may only re-enforce a personal trauma and all of it's symptoms, including the physiological responses to personal traumatic events. To resolve the dissociative problems resulting from trauma, is to reintegrate that which has been dissociated. Leading one to seek divorce is not true healing of the family unit. Some situations make it necessary, so that one can seek additional help if desired. I do realize this film was made at a time when people were becoming more aware of the prevalence of domestic violence. Unless one has been trained to see the mental and emotional patterns, it is difficult to see what this film is truly dramatizing.
In Beyond the Brain,, Stanislov Grof states, "Thus, the insight that it is important to experience more of the same discomfort to reach resolution is essentially accurate. However for this to happen, the experiential pattern must be completed internally, not acted out." This is part of the healing of the developmental issues. I think similar ideas are expressed in L. Ron Hubbard's book, Dianetics in which he talks about clearing an engram by having an auditor walk you through certain steps of the clearing process. This is of concern to me as it seems confusing. We see actors and actresses acting out scenes and yet we are told by Psychiatrists and Psychologists that acting out can actually inhibit healing. They have not experienced the trauma.
The body can also store memories of movements, feelings and postures that can possibly trigger traumatic memories. This is normal and how our brains record events for our future safety. I think healing a slap on the face would better be treated by some other means than an auditor. By that I mean that erasing those memories isn’t enough and can set one up for the same problem in the future, Modified versions of events in films can help integrate various aspects of one’s life and provide an opportunity to move beyond the traumatic event.
Having lived through a similar situation in my own family, I didn't understand why one would not just pick up and leave after the first blow was struck. I could relate to this film despite the differences in economic backgrounds as abuse is abuse. The dynamics are more complicated than they were able to portray due to time. Other films like Nuts and Magdalene Sisters also detail the struggle of getting free from abusive situations.
