“‘What need is there for romantic treatment? Real life is too romantic, too ghastly.' --G.W. Pabst.
“Secrets of a Soul is basically the cinematic structuring of the theory of psychoanalysis at work. With the approval of Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) and the aid and supervision of two of his assistants, Dr. Karl Abraham and Dr. Hanns Sachs, Pabst and his writers fashioned a fascinating case of a learned man gradually transformed by his dreams into a terrified creature. Supposedly based on an actual case history, the film is full of strikingly beautiful images. Sharp knives, doors, stairs and ladders are double and triple exposed onto the screen; they are not presented as symbols but rather as straightforward, matter-of-fact examples of the contents of an afflicted mind. This semi-documentary realism was to dominate much of Pabst's best film work.” --Toronto Film Society