What if Hitler's roommate went to therapy? Freud's most disturbing patient never existed—until now.
In Vienna in 1913, Hugo, a young man from a well-off Viennese family, is sent to see Sigmund Freud, the inventor of psychoanalysis. Hugo complains that he feels an impulsive revulsion tinged with hatred for Jews. Freud accepts him for an analysis. Hugo befriends a struggling artist obsessed with vegetarianism and German nationalism, Adolf. Filmed in contemporary New York City—particularly in the Bronx—V13 portrays the origins of the Nazi Weltenschaung. Alan Cumming gives an extraordinary performance as SIgmund Freud. The screenplay is based on a play by Alain Didier-Weill. His prior collaboration with the director, THE CALLER (2008), won the Made in New York Prize at the Tribeca Film Festival.
Acting
Alan Cumming's Freud—warm, probing, tragically impotent.
Direction
Bronx-as-Vienna gimmick that shouldn't work but absolutely does.
Writing
Dialogue so theatrical it dares you to look away.
Director
Richard C. Ledes
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The 'V13' title refers to Vienna 1913, when Hitler, Freud, Stalin, Trotsky and Tito all lived in the same neighborhood—none of them meeting.
Director Ledes shot in his own Bronx neighborhood, using local actors and buildings to create what he called 'the uncanny of the familiar'—making fascism's roots feel terrifyingly domestic.
US
