
Full text loading...
This article examines Psexoanálisis/Psex-analysis directed by Héctor Olivera (1968) and Heroína/Heroine directed by Raúl de la Torre (1972) as paradigmatic examples of the cultural relevance of psychoanalysis in Argentina. The depiction of psychoanalytic treatments in these films shows how cinema has been instrumental in turning psychoanalysis into a widespread sociocultural phenomenon beyond the consultation room. Both films turned psychoanalytic themes and motifs into narrative devices and interpretative tools useful to address periods of intense social transformation. While Psexoanálisis’s playful depiction of avant-garde art and the psychoanalytic boom was archetypal of the process of cultural modernization experienced in the mid-1960s, Heroína participated in the broader political radicalization of Argentine society in the early 1970s.