Returning home to the northwestern United States after serving in France during the Second World War, James, a quiet Native American man, is plagued and debilitated by piercing headaches and inexplicable, temporary vision problems. The doctors he turns to for help at a medical center for veterans cannot uncover a physical reason for his condition. They declare he may simply be mad, but also fear their limited knowledge of Indian culture and lifestyle may be stunting their diagnostic investigation. In response, they consult an outsider: Georges, a Romanian born French anthropologist with a vast knowledge of Native Americans who lived for two years with the Mohave tribe.

Georges' treatment of James, which resulted in the influential text Reality and Dream: Psychotherapy of a Plains Indian, is the subject of this film, and several long scenes are devoted to earnest and nuanced conversations shared by the pair as they analyze James' vivid dreams and revisit his troubled past, from his most painful romantic failure to his wartime experience. Reviews, positive or negative, have described this film as "deliberate" and "sober," and the description rings true. It has zero interest in sensationalizing the doctor/patient relationship or otherwise rendering it romantic. There is no third-act moment in which a specific detail of James' psyche comes to the fore to resolve every problem. It is instead interested in the painful step-by-step nature of psychiatric treatment as a relationship of trust is slowly forged and put to the test. It also shines a light upon the curious nature of this specific case, including the fact both Georges and James are men adrift and out of their element: one is, of course, an Indian who is an inherent part of, yet also set apart from the nation for which he fought while the other is an Eastern European Jew who abandoned his identity and cast himself instead as a Frenchman claiming to adhere to no religion.

I found the experience riveting both as an academic exercise and as a piece of cinema which, in its own quiet way, is very moving and rewarding for the soul. The entire enterprise is driven by a pair of towering performances which create a surprising electricity through extreme divergence: as the patient, a brooding Benicio Del Toro creates a persuasive physical language to tell the story of his character's introverted ache, while Mathieu Amalric is an anxious and vigorous presence as Georges, a nervous man who uses his colorful sense of humor and outsize personality to navigate and shield himself from the inequities of the world.

A-

Benecio Del Toro looks like Brad Garrett there.