Summary of The Movie Reign Over Me

"Reign over me" is the story of two men and the circumstances that surround them, and the other people that have a greater or lesser relationship with them. The axis of the action is Alan Johnson, a dentist who lives his life in a normal way: he earns good money in his profession, he is married and has two daughters, one small and one speeding into adolescence. His life is, we repeat, satisfactory from the material point of view, but it is a gray existence where love and passion are being replaced by everyday habit and affection. They live, but there is no emotion between Alan and his wife.

The other important character is Charlie Fineman, who was Alan's roommate during their carefree university days, and who has not seen Alan since that time, although he did hear about his terrible misfortune: his wife, his three young daughters and even his dog died in one of the planes that hit the towers during the unfortunate times that took place in September 11.

The main character in this movie began to grieve after the loss of his family. It is seen that he has an unusual loss of interest for the outside world, which is evident in the sedentary lifestyle that he has decided to live. It underpins a restricted reality, which prevents him from facing that loss, immersing himself in a youthful lifestyle without worries about others and about what happens around him. The mourning process begins when external reality warns that the beloved object has been lost and that the exhortation to remove the entire libido from its links with the object will emanate from it, so that a free and uninhibited self may emerge later. But for this there is a great expenditure of time and energy of investiture; meanwhile the existence of the lost object continues in a more psychological sense.

In the film you could see how Charlie lives in a constant repetition to satisfy the desire of his lost family - remodeling the kitchen again and again - subtracting in this way from the mourning process. Then you could observe that from the intervention of the psychologist how an opportunity opens to give rise to pain and anguish to be able to detach from that duel that sinks into the past, in other words, disinvest effects of the past. There Charlie is able to speak -of his daughters and wife- and therefore put into words what was blocking and anguishing him. This is where he can re-start and give rise to new objects of love to invest. This can be seen when Charlie can stop escaping his in-laws and face a new subjective position after being questioned and it is there, when he decides to move and with this relegate the kitchen, which later loses that meaning that Charlie gave to it.

At the same time, the possibility of meeting a new woman is given; beyond whether or not it will be a successful or lasting relationship. This is how Charlie emerges in a new light, thinking about himself in the future, and leaving behind that widower along with those submerged objects of the past.