PART III (of 3 parts)
Our third film, Woody Allen’s Alice, made in 1990, stars Mia Farrow. Unlike Darling or Madame Bovary, Alice becomes conscious and starts growing into her destiny with the help of her guide, Chinese herbalist Dr. Yang.

Many women’s journeys end up in the same place, whether single, married, divorced, widowed, with or without children: a journey to find the particular meaning of their own life.

Carl Jung believed that the first half of life is spent establishing oneself, learning how to navigate the world, and to develop ego strength. The second half presents the opportunity for real inner work. Most of us would like a Dr. Yang in our lives and sometimes we can find a guide or companion for a part of our journey, someone to offer us some tools. But in the end, we are left to our own resources, ultimately building our own psycho-spiritual muscle.
Alice initially goes to see Dr. Yang due to physical symptoms.

In the Jungian view, symptoms can be a sign that there is something the soul wants or needs and is not getting. Gregg Levoy, author of the book Callings, says talents and gifts are needs that, if not met, can turn into symptoms, and furthermore that “the soul doesn’t care what price has to be paid.” Material comfort and relationship do not necessarily equal happiness and fulfillment. Alice is married to a very wealthy attorney and Woody Allen pointedly shows the absurd extremes and values of this kind of life style.

Sometimes to grow into our full selves, we do have to pay a price. We might have to give up a safe and comfortable—but stifling—outer life. The greater price of self-estrangement and not living in congruence with oneself might otherwise be paid by remaining in the status quo. As uncomfortable, or excruciating, as feeling lost and confused is, it is often a good sign: a crossroads between the old ways that don’t work any longer and the impetus to find new ones. Jung called it living in shoes that have become too small for us.

Through a series of “treatments,” Dr. Yang is leading Alice step-by-step to a greater understanding of herself. She gets to look at her shadow side, the unlived or repressed aspects of her psyche. She begins to get a more accurate view of her strengths and her weaknesses. She looks at her past, and remembers when she felt alive. She realizes she has idealized her parents, especially her mother. She sees her friends for the shallow, backbiting people they really are. She loses her innocence and naiveté to find wisdom, without becoming cynical.

Alice understands she has been playing roles for most of her life, and starts choosing to live more authentically. She follows her dream to write and discovers it is not for her. Closed doors are as valuable as open ones, in terms of knowing in which direction we want to move. The result is that Alice begins to live in more congruence with her deeper values, and connects with what is truly meaningful to her. Her deep admiration for Mother Teresa becomes clear to her, which eventually leads her to a deeper, richer life.

Betrayed by her husband and let down by her lover, Alice is given a love potion by Dr. Yang; she can choose which man she wants and make him love her. Dr. Yang says the choice is hers, and she should make it wisely to get a better idea of who she is, her needs, her limits, her gifts, her inner self, and who the people around her are. She won’t know all the answers but she will have a clearer idea of which road she wants her life to take.

Ultimately, Alice reclaims her own power. She throws the potion away and opts for her deeper values. She has developed enough wisdom to know that neither her husband or lover, nor any man, is going to give her the key to herself. She is well on her way to assessing herself realistically, her strengths and her limitations—necessary for self-realization. She calls her own bluff and goes to India with her children to work with Mother Teresa. Instead of searching for “happiness,” she searches for the meaning in, and of, her life, and what is truly important to her.

Paradoxically, an unconscious inner life—as we witnessed in Diana and Emma—is oriented inwardly in self-absorption, and a conscious inner life leads to an outward orientation, a relationship with the outside world. We clearly see this transition in Alice. At the beginning of the film, she is busy with her trainer, her acupuncturist, her hairdresser, and so forth. By the end, she is interested in finding a home for her gifts out in the world, and living her values in a concrete way. She wants to perform good deeds for the benefit of others, as well as raise her children in accordance with her true values. We see concretely how individual inner work does indeed change the world beyond just our individual concerns.

We notice here, through these three heroines, the permutations of working (or not!) with fate and with destiny. Diana, with no consciousness about her situation, stays stuck. Emma at least attempts to find her way out of being trapped. Neither of them goes further than fate allows them to. Alice, however, shows us how to diligently find our way toward living an authentic life and growing into our destiny.

photo credit: ClaudineLonget

Comments

This post currently has 8 comments/trackbacks.
You can read the comments or leave your own thoughts.

Trackbacks

Mental Health Social (April 2, 2011)

From Psych Central's website:
PsychCentral (April 2, 2011)

Delicious Flavour (April 2, 2011)

Kasia Brown (April 2, 2011)

Kasia Brown (April 2, 2011)

The Paper Tiger (April 2, 2011)

    Last reviewed: 2 Apr 2011