Now streaming and on DVD: 'Freud's Last Session' needed to be shorter

Basically a debate between Sigmund Freud and C.S. Lewis, it challenged audiences to think about the existence of God. No doubt it was electric.

In the film version, Freud (Anthony Hopkins) and Lewis (Matthew Goode) contend with background stories before they can go back and forth with their theories. Director Matthew Brown fills his film with context – scenes of air raids in London, a subplot with J.R.R. Tolkien – and leans into a story about Freud’s relationship with his daughter Anna (Liv Lisa Fries), which only delays the inevitable.

That the two never had the tete-a-tete only adds to the confusion.

Based on Mark St. Germain’s play, the film still has strong performances (Goode is up to Hopkins’ challenge) and the hint of a better biopic.

Looking into Lewis’ past (and detailing how some of his “hits” landed) might have made a better journey than this one. Goode is the right man. He just wouldn’t have had to battle others for attention.

Here, it’s almost a done deal that Freud will dominate – and he does. Hopkins has been able to make several films work just because he knows how to deliver a line with dramatic pause. When he erupts, it’s electric.

The daughter subplot would have given a Freud-only drama its heft. But this hybrid makes you wonder how much freedom has been taken with every aspect.

The sets and costumes have an attractive look; the photography is appropriately moody. When the two actors are in the house together, visions of other, better debates come to mind.

Brown’s direction doesn’t have the sense of purpose Christopher Nolan’s did in “Oppenheimer.” It’s just a way to tell a story that, supposedly, will intrigue while he delays the inevitable.

Drawing from countless writings, the men’s stances are valid – even praiseworthy. But some of the admissions (including Freud’s claim that he psychoanalyzed his daughter) raise other flags and questions.

Edit “Freud’s Last Session” to the play’s essence and it’s powerful. Leave it with the side dishes and this is like a Thanksgiving meal you realize you didn’t need.