nothingadoaboutnothing
Film and photography enthusiasts || she/her
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Latest Posts by nothingadoaboutnothing
Texts in Like Minds: Sally's Books
After her first encounter with Alex, Sally returns home and consults a stack of books while listening to the recording of their discussion. Of this stack, only two titles are discernible. The first book is shown briefly and set aside, and the second is opened to a bookmarked page. This large tome is titled Principles of Criminal Psychology (Fifth Edition), by George R. Booth and Andrew Porter. Sadly, I cannot find even the tiniest scrap of the existence of this book online. It is clearly a textbook, and presumably one she would have kept from her school days given that it’s directly relevant to her career. The bookmarked page is titled “Chapter 27: Gestalt Theory”, and the opposite page features photos of Leopold and Loeb, who I have discussed elsewhere. The text itself is unfortunately not clear enough to be readable.
Returning to the first book we see, there is much more information to be found online. It is titled Gestalt Therapy: The Attitude and Practice of an Atheoretical Experientialism by Claudio Naranjo, first published in 1993.
The recording Sally plays during this moment is their exchange regarding gestalt. This concept is one that the movie highlights in this scene and again at the end during Sally’s address to her peers, but it does not clearly define or explain the idea of “gestalt” for the audience. Gestalt first arose as a philosophical principle suggesting that the experience of the parts of something cannot fully represent the whole of that thing, like the notes of the song versus the experience of the song itself. A cursory search of various articles online can give a brief overview of the core ideas of gestalt psychology. Wikipedia says this:
Gestalt psychologists believed that breaking psychological phenomena down into smaller parts would not lead to understanding psychology. Instead, they viewed psychological phenomena as organized, structured wholes. They argued that the psychological "whole" has priority and that the "parts" are defined by the structure of the whole, rather than the other way round. Gestalt theories of perception are based on human nature being inclined to understand objects as an entire structure rather than the sum of its parts.
This gives us a more thorough explanation of Alex’s very brief description of “gestalt”, but does not provide much insight into the meaning of his hints to Sally or why gestalt would have any bearing on his relationship with Nigel. The implication we are left to surmise is that these two separate boys have combined as individuals to create a whole greater than the sum of its parts, and Sally lampshades this idea at the end in her speech referencing the movie title. However, examination of these two books has given me some new thoughts about the use of gestalt in the film and about Sally’s conclusion regarding the dynamic between them.
Alex’s next words to Sally feel extremely significant and should be considered thoroughly: “It’s not what it is. It’s how you use it.” Given that both these books reference “gestalt therapy” specifically, it’s worth looking beyond the core theory of gestalt psychology to see how therapists actually use these ideas in practice. I found a clear explanation on this page:
Gestalt therapy is an existential and experiential psychotherapy that focuses on the individual's experience in the present moment, the therapist-client relationship, the environmental and social contexts in which these things take place, and the self-regulating adjustments people make as a result of the overall situation. It emphasizes personal responsibility. Gestalt therapy was co-founded by Fritz Perls, Laura Perls and Paul Goodman in the 1940s–1950s.
Gestalt therapy is built around two central ideas: that the most helpful focus of psychology is the experiential present moment and that everyone is caught in webs of relationships; thus, it is only possible to know ourselves against the background of our relation to other things.
I think we can already see some connections with the story as Alex presents it. Alex and Nigel are inextricably entwined in a web of relationship, and we the audience find it impossible to understand either character outside of this context.
Here I would like to suggest some Doylian interpretation which I believe to be possible or even likely, but for which I can offer no concrete evidence. We know that Greg Read initially intended to make a documentary about the phenomenon of two people who match each other’s freak so well that they enable a worsening of sociopathic tendencies to the level of violent criminal behavior. In one interview, he referenced a paper he read about gestalt psychology which opened doors in his mind and led him down this path. He had developed the documentary idea enough to show it to other people, and someone told him it would make a great fictional movie. Based on this, I assume he must have acquired additional materials beyond that first paper, conducting extensive research on the idea in preparation for the documentary. I posit that the books Sally uses in this scene are Greg’s books, or copies of the same books he had referenced. All of Sally’s scenes were filmed in Australia, so it’s not outside the realm of possibility that he simply brought (or already had) his own books on set.
Working from that assumption, the ideas found in Gestalt Therapy: The Attitude and Practice of an Atheoretical Experientialism might be taken as extremely influential on Greg’s thought process in writing this film. While the whole text is not available online, there are a few excerpts one can read for free here. (The book itself is available through multiple websites for around US$40 at the time of this post.) If we examine the excerpts below within the context of the movie, a few things really stand out (emphasis mine):
Perls sometimes stated the principle entailed in such strategy as one of absolute validity: You never overcome anything by resisting it. You only can overcome anything by going deeper into it. If you are spiteful, be more spiteful. If you are performing, increase the performance. Whatever it is, if you go deeply enough into it, then it will disappear; it will be assimilated. Any resistance is not good. You have to go full into it—swing with it. Swing with your pain, your restlessness, whatever is there. Use your spite. Use your environment. Use all that you fight and disown.
This sounds remarkably like the process Alex goes through with Nigel, resistant at first and gradually leaning into the swing, learning to embrace and roll with all the things he was fighting against. A case might also be made that Nigel partakes in this process as well: he too is resistant to Alex initially, but the train scene marks a turning point in which he seems to make the decision to lean into the violence that Alex offers.
Returning to Alex’s assertion that it’s not about what gestalt is, but how you use it, these passages take on a whole new meaning. Sally’s speech at the end of the movie suggests that she arrived at the conclusion, based on her belief in Alex’s version of events, that Nigel essentially used the techniques of gestalt therapy in a twisted, malicious way to manipulate Alex towards the culmination of the film. As she says,
“What follows, through a system of either intimidation, manipulation, or coercion, is the dominant individual begins to focus and influence the thoughts of the subordinate partner. This process nurtures a subjective gestalt where similar thoughts, fantasies, and other interlocking elements conspire to form a greater and more volatile whole, therefore, a merging of like minds.”
Now read the excerpt below in light of these descriptions:
In the strategy which pervades Gestalt practice, the therapist is leading the patient through a process similar to that through which a child that is learning to sit on a chair needs to discover that he can sit only by giving his back to the chair, not by moving towards it. While this is a discovery that many make at a certain point in a typical session, a spectator may not share the insight. The patient discovers that his resentment was a diluted and devious form of healthy aggression, for instance, but this spectator may be frightened by what he sees as destructive loss of control; what the patient experiences as a rewarding and cleansing explosion of grief, brought about by the exaggeration of emptiness, the observer without familiarity with Gestalt may fear that the therapist, by urging on the patient’s symptoms, may lead him to suicide. The therapist’s ability to bring a patient to the turning point where his disowned destructive energies become his own purified strength will depend, in large measure, not upon technique alone, but on his experiential knowledge that this is possible, and in the consequent sense of trust in the constructive drives of which pathological manifestations are a distortion brought about by unhealthy denial and which can heal by itself in the presence of awareness. Such trust will enable him to pursue a given course of action to an effective degree, in spite of the patient’s chaos, rage, or loss of control—and will be important, too, in eliciting the necessary trust in the patient for him to let go. Gestalt therapy is based on the principle that to alleviate unresolved negative feelings like anger, pain, anxiety, and resentment, those emotions cannot just be discussed, but must be actively expressed in the present. Without that, psychological and physical symptoms can arise.
These passages represent the intended healthy expression of these principles. If we take these ideas and techniques and twist them into an unhealthy, intentionally manipulative and toxic dynamic, it maps quite clearly onto the relationship between Alex and Nigel and the actions they take throughout the film. Sally assumes that Nigel is in the role of the “therapist” leading Alex the patient through this process. The movie’s ending presents itself as a twist and suggests that these roles were in fact reversed, particularly in light of Alex’s first interview with Sally and his ominous and vague statements about Nigel's death being a necessary means to an end. If we accept that conclusion at face value, then consider how Alex “urging on the patient’s symptoms” may have actually “led him to suicide”.
The Gestalt therapist contrives experiments that lead the client to greater awareness and fuller experience of his/her possibilities. Experiments can be focused on undoing projections or retroflections. They can work to help the client with closure of unfinished Gestalts ("unfinished business" such as unexpressed emotions towards somebody in the client's life).
What is the climax of this movie if not Nigel creating a violent type of closure with his unexpressed emotions toward his parents? “It’s how you use it.” Did Alex use gestalt therapy techniques to draw Nigel into this violent chain of events as “a means to an end”? If so, what actually was the “end” he desired?
Incorporating this information into our interpretations of the movie still does not necessarily force us into accepting Alex as Mastermind as the only reading. I think you can certainly see that dynamic, but it doesn’t preclude Nigel as Mastermind. In my further reading regarding gestalt therapy, I found this passage in a blog post:
A thirst for experience is part of all life. Often though, this takes the form of a wanting to move on and on to other experiences than those at hand. A craving for more replaces the need for depth that could be our natural mode of contacting the world, had we not become desensitized to it. Intuitively seeking that depth or fullness of awareness that is on our birthright, and not finding it, we seek the substitute of environmental stimulation: spicy foods, rock climbing, high-speed sportscars, competitive games, tragedies on the movie screen.
This describes Alex perfectly and speaks to his own need for the gestalt therapeutic approach. We could argue that Nigel addresses this drive for more experiences by bringing Alex into a focus on the depths of the present moment, existing in the now that Nigel creates for him as he attempts to understand his own feelings and reactions. As the book puts it:
The Perlses believed that it is not our responsibility to live up to others' expectations, nor should we expect others to live up to ours. In building self-awareness, gestalt therapy aims to help clients better understand themselves and how the choices they make affect their health and their relationships.
My own interpretation is one of equal partners both playing the role of therapist and patient to each other. Gestalt therapy relies on the ability of the therapist to set aside their own interpretations of the patient's experiences in favor of allowing or guiding the patient to arrive at their own understandings and conclusions. I do not think that sole responsibility can be placed on either Nigel or Alex, and the events of the movie could not or would not have transpired without the active participation of both boys in each other's lives. While the context is a dark expression of these ideas, both Alex and Nigel help each other build self-awareness and achieve a better understanding of themselves.
Like Minds Masterpost
I desperately need like minds but as a mockumentary. Like for example Alex and Nigel at the morgue over Susan’s Body. Alex having the worst time of his life
Nigel: “she’s yours Jack”
Alex: *sighs, pinches the bridge of his nose and stares at the ceiling*
Cut to Alex being interviewed
“Middle of the night. No explanation. Just "This way" and like an idiot, I follow him. And where do we end up? A morgue. Of course. What did I even expect?” *dramatically throws his hands up* “At this point, I’m beyond questioning it. I’m just… I need a nap.” *stares into the camera like he’s on the verge of a breakdown*
Or an interview after Josh and Alex chloroformed Nigel and dragged him onto a train
Nigel: *perfectly calm* “I get it, I may have freaked him out with the taxidermy and all but chloroform and kidnapping me? That was excessive. I feel like Alex should unpack that urge with a professional.” *after a few seconds silence* “can’t say I didn’t enjoy it tho”
Or the crawlspace scene
Nigel: “we’ve been brought together for a reason. And it’s written here. For eternity.”
Cut to interview
Alex: “Okay so at first I thought he was into me. But then he started talking about 12th century Templar orders and him being my *air quotes* 'implement for killing' and I realized it was somehow even weirder than that.”
New scene, Josh’s funeral:
Alex grieving, looks up and catches Nigel staring at him from across the grave
Cut to interview
Alex: “so I’m grieving, right? My best friend? Dead. In the ground. And then I look up and guess who’s staring at me like some kind of american psycho?? Well I give you a hint. His name starts with N and ends in igel. Just standing there staring, no shame, all intense and broody. Like, sir, MY FRIEND'S DEAD BODY IS LITERALLY BETWEEN US. CAN YOU MAYBE NOT RIGHT NOW??”
Thinking about Like Minds again. Specifically Sally. I'm sorry, I thought it was hilarious when we found out she'd taken to teach gestalt theory. Don't get me wrong, I understand that Alex is a genius of some sort, I understand that he's an excellent proof for the idea- but imagine interviewing a privileged twink of a not even eighteen-year-old boy who stares out the non-existent cell window like he's waiting for his soldier husband to come home, despite facing barely any real hardship before, proceeds to tell you that his life has been ruined by a really persistent taxidermist, opens your first meeting by being religious and condescending, and all of this is enough to convince you, an adult woman with a degree in psychology, that not only is he innocent but his niche psychology theory is absolutely correct and needs to be preached to the masses. like. don't get me wrong. I love Alex and I would like to love Sally (I do fear this movie suffers only prominent woman's story revolves mind body and soul around the men disorder) but even if I declared that dude innocent I would not be taking mental health tips and proverbs from him. what.
and he had this morbid fascination with all things dead.
Paul Mescal as Calum Patterson Aftersun (2022) dir. Charlotte Wells
HANNIBAL (2013-2015) | QUEER (2024) dir. Luca Guadagnino
DREW STARKEY AS EUGENE ALLERTON Queer (2024) dir. Luca Guadagnino
Rest in peace, David Lynch 🤍🕊️ January 20th, 1946 - January 16th, 2025
Blasted this edit with the AWESOME beam
( 𝒾’𝓂 𝑔𝒾𝓇𝓁𝓈 )
i’m usually not one to obsess over celebrities, but-
I’m the girls
June 16 aka the national holiday for annoying people like me
BEFORE SUNRISE (1995) dir. Richard Linklater
TODD CAMERON PROJECT ‼️
Lions Den (1990) - starring Ethan Hawke & Dylan Kussman
and the return of my LET TODD SAY FUCK AGENDA
Post-welton vibes if Neil lived (and we ignore him ‘nailing a 24 yr old). He’s even a writer!!!
girls don’t want boys. girls want to know what henry whispered to camilla.
Peter Weir behind the scenes of Dead Poets Society
when your card declines in therapy so they make you read the letter francis wrote to richard
Oh baby Ive got levels of overthinking you've never seen before
listening to robert sean leonard read the secret history is my therapy
i will never get over dps i love it like it's my own child
my goal in life rn is to be the kind of person richard papen would want to be friends with
before spotify wrapped comes out i have to establish that i am not mentally well and cannot be held responsible for my listening habits