Screened as part of NZIFF 2012

Shock Head Soul 2011

Directed by Simon Pummell

In 1903 Judge Daniel Paul Schreber published Memoirs of My Nervous Illness, one of the most remarkable studies of madness ‘from the inside’ ever written. Documentary, drama and CGI combine to tell his remarkable story.

The Netherlands / UK In English
86 minutes CinemaScope / HDCAM

Director

Screenplay

Simon Pummell. Inspired by Memoirs of My Nervous Illness by Daniel Paul Schreber

Producers

Janine Marmot
,
Femke Wolting
,
Bruno Felix

Photography

Reinier van Brummelen

Editor

Tim Roza

Music

Roger Goula

With

Hugo Koolschijn
,
Anniek Pheifer
,
Thom Hoffman
,
Jochum ten Haaf
,
Chris Nietvelt
,
Paul Williams
,
Roger Kennedy
,
Clive Robinson
,
Ian Christie

Festivals

Venice, London 2011
,
Rotterdam 2012

How does an apparently sane, sober man – a judge, in fact – become a desperate, unpredictable one, plagued by terrifying visions? Daniel Paul Schreber differs from other 19th-century unfortunates in that he published a book about his experiences, Memoirs of My Nervous Illness, one of the most remarkable studies of madness ‘from the inside’ ever written. Schreber argued in court that his memoir was itself proof that he was a functioning member of society, despite all the mutant flying jellyfish typewriters swarming around him. His hallucinations fuel the film’s extraordinary cinematic visions, with matter-of-fact CGI intrusions and nightmarish distortions of perspective. But it’s more than just a (literal) head trip: Shock Head Soul also explores the social history of madness and its treatment. Contemporary academics (dressed in period costume), like Freud and Jung before them, analyse Schreber on the basis of his written testimony. Piece by piece, the film builds up an unforgettable portrait of the man, his madness and his times. — AL