In The Master (2012),
Lancaster Dodd tells Freddie Quell, the man whom Lancaster wants to cure of
alcoholism and mental illness, “I am a writer, a doctor, a nuclear physicist, a
theoretical philosopher, but above all I am a man.” Given Lancaster’s
presumption of infallibility concerning knowing that every human soul
has been reincarnated even for trillions of years, the end of the line would
more fittingly be, “I am a man above all (others).” With regard to being a
physician, Lancaster comes up short because he underestimates the medical
severity of Freddie’s alcoholism and his likely psychotic mental illness. Upon being
released from jail, Lancaster should realize that Freddie’s rage and
temper-tantrum in his jail cell evince mental illness of such severity that it
is lunacy to suppose that the patient can be cured by walking back and forth in
a room between a wall and a window and being sure to touch both, and by saying
“Doris” over and over again in a dyad with Lancaster’s new son-in-law. In fact,
Lancaster actually encourages Freddie’s alcoholism by asking that
Freddie continue to make his “potion,” which contains paint-thinner filtered through
bread. It is not Lancaster, but his wife, Peggy, who puts a stop to the
“booze.” From her sanity, both that of Freddie and Lancaster can be questioned.
That Lancaster is the Master of a religious cult, or “movement,” renders his mental
state particularly problematic.
The full essay is at "The Master."
