Jacques Lacan Speaks

Synopsis

Typically controversial speech by psychoanalyst/philosopher Lacan is disrupted by a student, ridiculing such public intellectuals. Lacan refuses to allow security to haul off the student, lets him speak and incorporates such criticisms into his presentation. The packed performance took place at the Catholic University of Louvain on October 13, 1972, with Lacan interrelating death, language, love, alienation, paranoia and life. His talk is followed by a probing interview of Lacan on his concepts of psychoanalysis, conducted by the director, Belgian documentarian Francoise Wolff. One of only 2 known filmed appearances by Lacan, both by Wolff, who also made documentaries of Albert Einstein and Alexander Solzhenitsyn.