Although the only Emmy Award nominations for In Treatment were for these three actors, we all know the directors and writers create the characters these actors become as well as the world they inhabit. Understanding more about the process of making this series and bringing it to life leads to a better understanding of just what these three have achieved.

The DGA Quarterly, Spring 2009 issue, offers us a chance to see the directors in action, making choices, working within the confines of that single room.

A Room With A View: Shooting intimate therapy sessions in a confined space is the unique challenge presented by In Treatment. The show’s directors make it come alive by keeping it simple—and real.

BY LISA SCHWARZBAUM

Freud called psychotherapy “the talking cure” for a reason. The process is slow, and sometimes gets stuck. It’s drawn out, and it grinds on week after week. The work can be profound, intense, and dramatically life changing for those on the therapy couch and in the analyst’s chair. But perhaps only one director to another can appreciate the professional alchemy involved in making the In Treatment audience feel like intimates. When, in a lurching conversation between Dr. Weston and his own confessor, Gina, Barclay directs a camera move so minuscule as to feel subliminal, all of us are invited to sit on the other side of a one-way mirror and watch souls in the process of reconstruction, sometimes without moving a muscle.

 

2 Comments

  1. I find it invigorating to see how much thoughtful and considered comment “In Treatment” attracts. See, Gabriel? We’re NOT all focussed entirely on your looks!

  2. Not entirely! :-P

    I always enjoy articles that help us understand the “business” of making art. We get so wrapped up in the finished product that it is easy for us to forget all that goes into making 24 minutes of excruciatingly wonderful drama…like choosing the appropriate blue shirt for a particular someone to wear…wait, we aren’t supposed to be focused on THAT!

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