"We just argue nonstop." "It's beginning to affect my work." "If they were to diagnose therapists whose marriages fell apart, how many cases of erotic transference would they find?" "I don't think my marriage to Kate is falling apart." "Yes, I had a row with Laura..." "I mean with Kate." " Who's Laura?" " The girl with the issue of... erotic transference." "I didn't come here to talk about a patient." "Did you come here to ask for my guidance?" "Or to talk to me as a friend?" "Are you seeking advice from a colleague?" "What role have you assigned me?" "I'm trying to figure it out, but I'm failing!" "No, he's not here." "Please don't call back." "Because he's dead." "He died a year ago." "Thank you for getting back to me, Amy." "I..." "I appreciate it." "So I'll see you next week then." "Same time." "Thank you." "Bye." "It's..." "It's true." "Kate's been..." "She's been seeing... this guy." "Supermarket manager, employment agency guy..." "I forget what he does, but anyway, he's divorced, got a kid." "She made sure to tell me all the details." " Did she say how long?" " Everything's gone to hell..." "Patients, family." "If I was..." "If I was into astrology, I'd say there was something cosmic going on, planets colliding somewhere." "First, one of my patients..." "The pilot I was telling you about..." "He's leaving his wife." "Just like that." "She grinds her teeth in her sleep, so marriage over." "And the 16-year-old, the gymnast?" "She's having an affair with this guy in his mid-40s, married guy..." "Her coach." "At least I think that's what she's hinting at." "And she also goes to the same school as my daughter so I had the pleasure of finding out that..." "Rosie was having a..." "A thing... with this boy at school." "I don't even know what a thing is." "I don't even know if it's true." "I asked her." "I got nowhere." "She wouldn't tell me anything." "And then finally..." "Is it me?" "Kate says it is." "She says it's my fault." "I don't see her, that's she's invisible." "She says I don't see the kids either, they're invisible too." "As far as I know, Rosie could be having sex with a drug addict." "Everybody talks about her at school..." "at least that's what she said." "Who said?" "Kate said that?" " I'm lost, Paul." " The girl, Sophie... the gymnast." " You talk about 10 things at once." " No, she's in the same grade as Rosie." "Let's focus on Kate." "What am I supposed to do, Gina?" "I mean, what... what am I supposed to do... now?" "Did she say what she thinks will happen now between the two of you?" "I don't know." "She said it's..." "She said it's up to me." " What do you think that means?" " You tell me." "She's banging some insurance salesman and it's up to me?" "She gave me all the details." "She blows him, she screws him..." "It's like a porno film." " She told you that?" " Absolutely." " Why?" " You know, my conception... maybe I should say my misconception of Kate is that everything..." "Everything about sex was always connected to intimacy for her." "There was never anything weird or dirty about sex." "It was always about intimacy." "Now I feel if someone throws the word intimacy at me," "I want to punch her in the mouth." "Punch "her" in the mouth?" " What?" " You said punch "her."" "You know, all that bullshit that I thought meant intimacy to her..." "The candles, the backrubs, feeling safe." "Meanwhile she's in her own porno film, fucking this..." "This guy." "I'm trying to figure out why she would tell you graphic details." " Because she wanted to hurt me." " Did you ask for details?" "I just wanted to..." "I wanted to get a grasp of the situation, you know?" "She made sure you wouldn't ignore what she was saying." "I think you knew what was going on." "Last week when we spoke, I think you knew." "I'm sure Kate sensed that as well..." "your suspicion." "Maybe I'm wrong." "I knew." "I did know." "You'd think that would make it easier, you know?" "Almost threw her out of the house." "It was like, "You hurt me," ""I'm gonna hurt you." "Now just get the fuck out of here."" "I mean, there are a thousand ways that people can deal with these things." "We could have gone to therapy, for example." "I mean, not everybody has to fuck around." "What's that?" "Coldex Night." "They're supposed to be stronger than Coldex Day." "I've had two of them already." "They kind of make you a bit stoned." "Do you want some tea?" " Water would be good, thanks." " Sure." "I had a session yesterday with that..." "Thanks." "With that couple who called me a..." "Who called me a murderer." "In the middle of the session, she runs to the bathroom and she starts to bleed." " What happened?" " Miscarriage." " My God." " It was pretty scary." " How is she?" " I think she's fine." "I just spoke to her at the hospital." "They're running some tests, but she seems to be okay." "At least I'm not a murderer." "Though I wouldn't be surprised if the husband blamed me for everything." "You know, stress as a result of therapy." "It's possible." "Ironically, they'd both just kind of worked out their problem." "They weren't arguing, which for them, is a major accomplishment." "And he said to me:" ""This is our last session."" "And then..." "Then it happened." "Anyway, I was trying to get the blood out of the couch, 'cause when she got up, she left a stain, and Kate walks into the room." "And she looks around and she says..." ""What goes on in this office?"" "Anyway..." "Quite a week." "Quite a week." "Ultimatums from two women." "Kate and Laura." " Laura?" " She tells you she's in love with you." "What's..." "What are we going back to that for?" "I was talking about something completely different." "You don't think it's relevant?" "You describe two women attacking you." "Two women?" "What about three women?" "Does it feel like I'm attacking?" "Maybe that's why you're taking pills to protect yourself against me." "I have a cold, see?" "Last week you called me a sleepy spider, in wait." "Were you..." "Were you insulted by that?" "I take it back." "You're not sleepy." "Would you agree that your relationship with Kate has been... a wall between you and your patients so that you're safe," "you're not attracted to them?" "Attraction's..." "It's not a problem." "Freud, Messer, Davies, all the big guys, they all talk about how attraction is inevitable, it's part of therapy." "But if you brush it under the rug, the message you're giving to the patient is that their feelings are perverse, are dangerous." "Their feelings?" "I'm talking about your feelings." "I'm not worried that Laura will try and break down the wall on her own." "I'm worried that you want her to." "The wall?" "What is this metaphor?" " My wife is a wall?" " You don't agree?" "I'm not hiding from my patients." " That essay that Bolas wrote about..." " Forget about Bolas." "Every time we go deeper, you reach for some theory..." "These male therapists tormented by lust for their patients." "Right?" "I mention Laura and that's who you start quoting." "But why are we even talking about Laura?" "Because I want you to hear what you're saying." "That you're surrounded by women who demand that you respond and love and be angry and feel, that you face your feelings." "Did I mention that Laura is..." "Is getting married in June?" "So Laura's over." "That's finished." "If anyone wants to pull down a wall, it's Kate." " Why?" " Secrecy." "She..." "She hates it." "She hates that I can't share it." " You mean work?" " She resents my office." "It's like enemy territory to her." "She's always trying to make it her space... a piece of it." "Like "Let's get a new sofa."" " Or new blinds or a rug or something." " Do you let her?" " No, I don't." " Why not?" "Because I agree with her." "It's not her space." "There was a time when I used to talk about my patients, when Ian was a kid." "I would share... share details." " With Kate." "You don't mean Ian." " Both of them at the dinner table." "I see that look of horror on your face." "No, I was pretty discreet actually." "I never mentioned any names." "If someone mentioned rats, I'd say," ""I had a patient with a fear of rats," ""dreamed about rats every night." You know, stuff like that." " You don't do that now?" " No." "But I remember when Ian was about 10, he asked me, "Dad, what's an alcoholic?"" "And I told him about this patient of mine who needed a drink actually to get out of bed in the morning." "One day this man came up to the office and he was... kind of staggering and Ian said, "Dad, is that the alcoholic?"" "You were careless." "This situation now, I think..." "There's more at stake." " Do you agree?" " Because we're talking about a woman?" "Sexual attraction." "Can I ask you a question?" "You're in the middle of a session and a patient needed to use the bathroom and your bathroom is blocked up." "Would you let them use the bathroom in your house?" " Did that happen?" " Laura said that she had to pee." "And I told her, "Well, the toilet's blocked up."" "So she headed for the door of the house and..." "I freaked out." "I jumped up and I stopped her." "I'm keeping your metaphor going here." "I hope you appreciate that about the..." "She tried to scale the wall." "There's always a patient who wants to know about you..." "More about your private self." "Anyway..." " What did you do?" " I jumped up." "I panicked." " What made you panic?" " She was doing it on purpose, I felt." "I thought, "Why can't she hold it for another 10 minutes?"" "Why did I panic?" "I don't know really." "Has that ever happened with another patient?" "Sophie, the gymnast..." "She came in last week and... it had been raining and she was completely soaked." "So I let her change into my daughter's clothes." "That didn't make you uncomfortable?" "It's a lot more intimate than using the bathroom..." "Rosie's clothes." "She had casts on both her arms from the accident." "And she held up her hands like this and she said," ""Undress me."" "So, I got Kate to come in and help her." " How old did you say she was?" " 16." "She's the girl who's sleeping with her adult coach?" "She might be sleeping with her coach." "It's a loaded situation, her asking you to undress her." "She was messing with me." "You had no problem handling that?" "You had Kate help her, undress her, give her your daughter's clothes." "But when Laura needs to use the bathroom, you freak out." " Why is that?" " Laura is a woman." "Sophie's just a... she's just a child." "Shouldn't that make it easier?" "You know, there was..." "There was a part of me that really wanted Laura to go through the door, to see where I live." " Maybe to... to see Kate." " You wanted that?" "Was that what scared you?" "Did you discuss what Laura told you last week?" "She said that the reason that she was going to marry this guy, this boyfriend Andrew, was because I told her I wasn't interested." "I know what you're thinking, but I made it really clear." "I said nothing is going to happen between us." " Good." " I'm..." "I'm just..." "I'm not going to play along." "This is not going to happen." "In your mind, is there any possibility that the affair could become a reality?" "No, in your mind." "Look, I have to admit sometimes, it's..." "It's flattering." "I can't help but enjoy the feeling." "But I told her no." "I said, "This cannot happen." ""You cannot go through that door." "There are limits."" "Is that what upset you, that she was testing you?" "It's not that abstract." "She's a beautiful woman." "She says she wants to have sex with me." "I know what's in her head, so I don't want her going through the door and maybe bumping into Kate." "But you said you did want that." "Some part of you wanted that." "The point I'm making is that" "I want Laura to understand that we can survive this, that any attraction that comes up between us I can handle." "I am not going to let this derail the therapy." "Her wanting to sleep with you?" "How did she put it exactly?" "That she knows that..." "I want her." "She said that she wants to... to fuck me and that she knows that I want to fuck her too." "That's a lot to stave off," " that kind of intensity." " She can be very direct..." "Laura." "Maybe that's why I panicked." "Here's what I think, Paul, and you can accept this or tell me I'm interfering again, but" "given the situation with Kate," "I think we..." "we might explore the option of transferring Laura to another therapist." " What?" " Just hear me out on this." "Because Laura thinks she wants to sleep with me?" "Last week you thought we were already having sex." "I thought you had an affair and you were trying to justify it." " Thanks, Gina." " I was wrong." "I'm sorry." "I jumped to conclusions." "You've reassured me." "But now this situation with Kate..." "How emotional you are and the pressure you're under." "Listen to yourself." "You're injured." "You're vulnerable." "You're angry." "This isn't me being stubborn, Paul." "I think we should just discuss the possibility that Laura's better off with a different therapist." " A female therapist, you mean." " Yeah, preferably." " You, for instance?" " No, I'm retired, remember?" "This is so typical of you." "You always begin by saying "I hate to say this, but..." ""But..."" "And you lay some pronouncement on me that you've already been thinking about before you've come into the session." "This isn't a debate club, you know?" "It's not like we take a position and we hunt for ways to support it." "That's not what I'm doing." "I'm listening." "You have Kate on one side and you have Laura on the other." "But they're two totally different situations, Gina." "Are you saying that I pushed Kate into this situation?" "That I created this environment at home so that Kate could go fuck an insurance agent because really I'm in love with Laura?" "Isn't that your theory?" "Your notes somewhere?" " Look at how you're reacting." " How am I reacting?" "I am not sending Laura to another therapist." "End of story." "I can handle whatever comes up in the sessions." "That's why I'm here..." "Because I want you to help me to handle it." "We just need to discuss this, Paul." "I don't want to pawn her off on somebody else." "But what's best for Laura?" "Honestly, if it wasn't for Kate cheating..." "I wouldn't be here, Gina." "And we haven't talked about your comment the last time." " I was pretty pissed off about that." " About what?" "You made a crack about my father leaving my mother for a patient." "What was that supposed to mean?" "That I can't treat Laura because of what my father did years ago?" "I'm not my father, for Christ's sake." "No, you're not your father." "I'm suggesting a pattern" " that might be threatening to you." " Are you or are you not, Gina, saying that because of my father, that I'm in danger of having an affair?" "My gut..." "You can't answer it, can you?" "No, I can't." "If I remember correctly, you were faced with the same scenario yourself." "So maybe this really isn't about my father." "Maybe it's about you, Gina." "Don't forget I was the one who referred Charlie to you." "I remember he called me after one of your sessions." "And he confessed to me that... that he was in love with you." "No, actually he went further." "He said that you were in love with each other." "Maybe he was wrong, I don't know." "Either way, you needed to face that, and you didn't." "You just ran off to England." "You know what?" "I could not believe when that happened." "That was a wake-up call for me, watching you behave like that." " I didn't run away." " Come on, a sabbatical with David?" "At that moment?" "By the way, is that what your novel is about?" "I figured." "You failed the same test yourself, Gina, but you abandoned a patient." "He tried to get hold of you over the years, didn't he?" "A few letters." "I didn't answer." "You do know that he died a few months ago?" "Prostate cancer." "It was right after David and I couldn't go to another funeral." "I just couldn't..." "I couldn't face it." "It's funny, you know?" "I was talking about Charlie the other day to a patient of mine." "I was saying that I..." "I'd been to his funeral and that I was..." "I couldn't feel sadness." "And I was, you know, beating myself up about it." "The truth is, I was..." "I was so disillusioned with you, Gina, for keeping you on as a supervisor." "After what you pulled with Charlie, I should have just walked out then." "You know that he never ever got over you?" "Since we're digging for the truth..." "May I ask how you really feel about Laura?" "I haven't heard a clear answer." "Not what you're going to do about her, but how you feel." "Do you mean, am I attracted to her?" " Are you?" " Come on, Gina." "If I transferred every patient I was attracted to at some point," "I wouldn't have any patients left." "And it's not your place to say I should transfer a patient." "It's like me telling that couple they should have an abortion." "It's not what therapists do." "We don't tell people how to run their lives." "I'm suggesting that we talk about stopping Laura's therapy and look at your reaction." "Paul, do you really need another pill?" "I know." "Tomorrow's Saturday." "I can sleep all day Sunday." "I don't really care if they knock me out or not, really." "What you're going through with Kate is so complicated."