Mon. Oct. 13

We always enjoy the Coolidge Corner Theatre's "Science on Screen" series. The idea: Couple a well-known film with a local expert - we got a lot of these in Boston, what with all them colleges - and have said expert explain the science or psychology or what-have-you that's somewhere in the cinematic mix. Sometimes, it's a stretch. So be it. It gets people in the theater to see some classic films on the big screen and, if you want to stick around for the more serious stuff - which actually starts the night - it's your option. On Monday Oct. 13, the Coolidge presents Alfred Hitchcock’s classic psychological thriller "Marnie," at 7:00 pm. Your guest speaker will be noted psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Phillip Freeman.
What's "Marnie" about? Hitchcock reunited with Tippi Hedren, his leading lady from "The Birds" - that alone is enough for an evening's worth of shrinkage - in a film where Marnie Edgar (Hedren) plays  a habitual thief who uses her ample charm and good looks to gain the trust of her employers, only to rob them. Sounds so dated doesn't it? Just kidding. She eventually meets her match in Mark Rutland (a pre-Bond Sean Connery), a publisher who decides to observe her more closely rather than turn her in to the police.  Not just observe, but, well, marry. In time, Mark uncovers incidents from Marnie’s childhood that are to blame for her split personality.
Before the film, Freeman will speak about Hitchcock's use of the language of cinema to evoke the sensibility of Marnie's dreams and traumatic memories. Dr. Freeman is a practicing psychiatrist and a training and supervising psychoanalyst at the Boston Psychoanalytic Institute. He has faculty appointments at Harvard Medical School and Boston University Medical School, where he was director of Medical Student Education and a vice chair in the Department of Psychiatry. Dr. Freeman has published extensively on psychopathology and applied psychoanalysis, and has also served as a consultant on films and plays in the Boston area. So, the man has cred. Hear him speak and watch the sparks fly on screen. Tickets: $9.75.

290 Harvard St., Brookline, 617-734-2500 www.coolidge.org