MovieChat Forums > Augustine (2012) Discussion > i didnt understand it

i didnt understand it


I just wathced it tonight at the Toronto international film festival, i am not sure what to make of it. Can someone shed some light on this movie?

reply

females are crazy, men are idiots

reply

Up to the 19th century, many ailments of women were considered caused by demonic possession. In the 19th century, many ailments of women were considered by the conventional medical establishment to be caused by mental illness or to be faked for attention. Progressive figures such as Charcot--the "father of neurology" and "Napoleon of the neuroses"--felt that the ailments were the result of what they called "hysteria," which stemmed from either neurological disorders, traumatic experiences, or sociocultural situations, such as severe sexual repression. The diagnosis of hysteria was too broadly applied, however, and the treatments for it were often crude, though generally better than the other kinds of "treatment" going on in the hospitals and asylums of the time. The film is a fascinating excursion into this phase of medical history and explores the emotional and ethical complications that can arise between a physician and his patient. Charcot was trying to help Augustine, but in a male-dominated society, that attempt at help also became a form of exploitation. At the end, Augustine leaves the hospital/asylum but is, as it were, lost in a world of frock-coated, top-hatted men, with her real needs for acceptance and understanding as a full person in her own right, not just a collection of interesting symptoms, still not recognized.

reply

Sorry, rolling on the floor grasping your crotch is indeed hysteria. Estrogen-induced derangement of the mind: it's real. Charcot's problem isn't that he is a man, it's that he is a fraud, with no understanding of science or scientific inquiry. A real scientist would admit his lack of understanding and capabilities. Even today the disease is largely incurable: though oophorectomy relieves some symptoms, prefrontal lobotomy is the only known treatment.

reply

You are not seriously suggesting that in the 21st century a lobotomy or the surgical removal of ovaries is any type of cure for this or any other neurological disease? And certainly it must be acknowledged that in his time Charcot was unconventional, but never a fraud as you claim. Perhaps you should read some of the literature by Oliver Sacks to get a better idea of the current empathetic thoughts on mental health issues.

reply

[deleted]

Are you serious?
You should read about Psychogenic non-epileptic seizures (PNES)

reply

timlin-4, gosh I hope you never become a doctor, I would rather die than fall into your hands!!

(I seriously hope your post was a joke)

reply