From the author: Relationships are the most difficult thing in life. A man often looks for the traits of his mother in his chosen one; having found a suitable object, he projects his expectations onto her. When he discovers that this woman is different, with her own expectations and needs, he often leaves her and continues to search for his ideal. But the ideal is a mommy, and, as you know, they don’t marry mommies. How does a man choose a wife? using the example of Woody Allen's film "Nightmare Mommy" Why did I choose the film to analyze the stated topic? We all watch movies on television or in the cinema from childhood, it is as part of our life. Cinema is one of the most accessible forms of mass art. The perception of a film evokes a number of associations, sometimes at first glance, that do not follow from its visual range. Every person has desires that he cannot realize in reality due to limitations. After watching a movie, he can put himself in the place of the hero and symbolically live out a forbidden desire. The main creator of the film is the director, who conveys his creative ideas to the viewer through the prism of his psyche. In this sense, the film can be considered as a reflection of the director’s subjectivity and his intrapsychic conflicts. The purpose of this essay is a psychoanalytic analysis of Woody Allen’s film “Nightmare Mommy”, what intrapsychic conflicts Woody Allen showed us in this film. How does the Oedipus conflict resolve in a man, what are the stages it is necessary to go through for a positive resolution of the Oedipal conflict. From the biography of Woody Allen it is known that he was married twice in his youth, these marriages broke up. Then, after a long break, already in adulthood, he met a woman with whom he started a family. The film “Nightmare Mommy” in the comedy genre tells about an already mature man who wants to separate from his mommy, but he does not succeed very well. How does the choice of an object of love occur? For a better understanding of the stages of plot development, the film is conventionally divided into several parts. The film begins with Sheldon, the main character of the film, telling a psychoanalyst a dream in which he sees that his mother has died. He complains to the analyst about his mother, who still considers him a little boy and tells everyone around him about his childhood. This dream fulfills the desire to separate from his mother and at the same time tells Sheldon that he has his mother’s voice in his head (introject), which even after her death will be his second self or super ego. Sheldon is already 50 years old and a successful lawyer. He has a girlfriend whom he wants to marry. Sheldon comes with her to his mommy to meet her. However, mommy says that it’s too early for him to get married, she doesn’t like his fiancee. Lisa, Sheldon's fiancée, has three children from her first marriage. She tells Lisa that he pays alimony and about his other negative qualities. This clearly shows the mother's desire to keep her son. In turn, Sheldon wants to symbolically take his father’s place and “marry his mother,” because Lisa is already a mother. Sheldon begins to experience an Oedipal conflict. In the next part, Lisa invites Sheldon's mother to meet her children, the mother is unhappy, but goes. They go to the circus, where the magician invites Sheldon's mom on stage to perform a trick. She must reach into the box and he will impale her with several swords. Mommy is “pierced” with swords and a miracle happens. The episode when she is pierced with swords that symbolize penises can be interpreted as the appearance of a third, a man. Mommy belongs to his father and leaves his son. Sheldon is suffering and looking for his mother. Mommy disappears, just as Sheldon dreamed. Having survived the internal Oedipal conflict, Sheldon finds his “mommy” in the person of his friend Lisa. He feels better, his sexual relationship with his fiancée improves, he has never felt so relaxed. He likes his new condition and wants to stop searching for his mother. But the mother’s introject does not go away. The film shows how the image of mommy was revealed insky over New York and she still tells everyone about Sheldon, scolds his fiancee and demands not to marry Lisa. The discussion moved to television screens, journalists attack Sheldon, he cannot even go outside. They tease him about being a mama's boy. Lisa doesn't like mommy's attack on her and her life. Sheldon begins to quarrel with Lisa. Intrapsychic conflict intensifies. The mother may disappear physically, but without deep processing the conflicts are not resolved. Sheldon feels so bad that he is looking for a way to commit suicide. This can be interpreted as a need for transformation. He wants to separate from mommy, in the film this is shown very specifically in the form of a desire to die, and mommy will finally shut up. However, he does this when his fiancée is in the next room and reports this to the psychoanalyst, which indicates that he needs someone to save him. Sheldon complains to the analyst about his mother and about problems with his fiancée. The analyst says that only magic can help him. Sheldon regresses to the pre-Oedipal period, when the child has a belief in magical thinking. The child began to cry and a “breast” appeared. Sheldon comes to a clairvoyant who offers him food from the doorway and tells him the recipe for cooking chicken to the spirit of her deceased friend. She recognizes the seriousness of Sheldon's problem and tries to help him bring his mother back to earth. Sheldon is critical of all the actions of the clairvoyant, and nevertheless takes part in the rituals of returning mommy. After some time, the clairvoyant admits her helplessness, Sheldon consoles her and invites her to a restaurant. The clairvoyant prepares dinner herself, feeds him chicken like his mother, and gives Sheldon a chicken leg to take with her. Sheldon returns home and finds a letter from Lisa saying that she left him. Out of frustration, he takes out a chicken leg that Treva (the clairvoyant) gave him. He looks at the leg and realizes that he likes this woman, he has found an image that replaces mommy. Of course, this is not mom, but she loves him, feeds him, takes care of him just like mommy. Mommy wakes Sheldon up from heaven “wake up!” Sheldon and Treva run out onto the balcony and Treva says that she loves Sheldon. And suddenly mommy disappears and returns home again in human form. Despite the fact that the film is a comedy, I felt tension throughout the entire film, the peak of tension came at the moment when Sheldon takes out the chicken leg that Treva gave him and it drips jelly. It was tension with a hint of disgust. When Sheldon smiled and I realized that he had fallen in love with Treva and there would be a happy ending, the tension was released and everything became calm and good. It’s as if everything is now complete and in its place. The film clearly shows the belated resolution of the Oedipal conflict and the process of separation from the mother. The son wishes his father to die (in the film the father died) and “marries” his mother. Sheldon is very close to his birth mother and wants to marry the mother of three. Then the hero experiences a crisis of being unable to possess his mother. The hero of the film overcomes the Oedipal conflict. He has introjected the image, character and behavior of his mother and finds himself a woman almost like his mother. Oedipus is positively resolved. At the same time, the hero is under the strong influence of his real mother, so the separation process did not take place, Sheldon remained a mama's boy. This film allows you to get pleasure from the successful resolution of the Oedipal conflict and maintaining closeness with mommy. If we consider the film as a dream that fulfills a wish, then the desire - to merge with the mother and marry the mother - is fulfilled. A man unconsciously chooses a woman who is similar to his mother. He often chooses someone physically similar to his mother, but this is too specific. The film shows how the hero first chose a woman who takes care of children, then chose one who helped him find his mother, cooked like a mother, and devoted all her time to him. So in life, men choose women who have the traits of their mother, whom they loved. Or some other woman, when a feeling of love was recorded 03.11.2018