Cinema Therapy — Charlyne Gelt, Ph.D.

The Fabelmans

The Fabelmans (2022) is a semi-autobiographical, coming-of-age family drama, co-written and directed by Steven Spielberg. It details Spielberg’s 1950s childhood and the growing-up trials and tribulations that helped prepare him for his later career as a brilliant filmmaker. Seen from a family systems perspective (a theory of human behavior that defines the family unit as a complex social, interactive system), The Fablemans illustrates a family emotional environment and the shattering impact that a “family secret” has on the entire family.

Sammy Fabelman (Gabriel LaBelle) is the only son (he has three sisters) born into this middle-class family held together by their Jewish values and adherence to the traditional family roles of the day. His mother, Mitzi Fabelman (Michelle Williams), has given up any potential career of her own in order to be a good Jewish mother and housewife. His father, Burt (Paul Dano), while a good provider highly vested in his work as an engineer for tech companies, has a passivity in other areas which is in sharp contrast to his wife’s passionate (but unmet) need for love and artistic expression.

The film starts out with the family in New Jersey, and it is here that young Sammy first experiences the magic of movies when his parents take him to see The Greatest Show on Earth. It changes his life. He becomes obsessed with aspects of the film, especially the train wreck scene, which he repeatedly tries to recreate after his mother gets him a camera. With the camera, Sammy starts filming everything in his life. Mitzi, frustrated by her own inner deadness, secretly supports his creativity.

When Burt gets a promotion, the Fabelmans have to relocate to Arizona. Sammy continues filming and presenting shows — his sisters, family, school, and neighborhood events, even his Boy Scout experiences for which he earns his Boy Scout film badge. After relocating to Northern California, we see Sammy getting beaten up — but not beaten down — by his bullying anti-Semitic high school peers. When Sammy starts dating the devoutly-Christian Monica, she suggests that Sammy use her father’s camera to film their senior Ditch Day at the beach. Sammy agrees. That film becomes Sammy’s vehicle for peer acceptance and approval. His film is a positive portrayal of his classmates and is met with a rip-roaring success, another thing that works to turn him into an aspiring filmmaker.

While initially Burt refers to his son’s filming as a hobby, it soon becomes apparent to both parents that Sammy’s talent goes way beyond just a hobby. Sammy soon discovers that life’s secrets get revealed through the camera lens where “truth” is often exposed bare. For example, his camera exposes the truth about his classmates’ narcissism and entitlement, the true impact on Sammy of being targeted for anti-Semitic abuse, and the truth about his dysfunctional family dynamics, including his mother’s loving feelings for his father’s assistant, “Uncle” Bennie (Seth Rogen), who is a steady presence at the house, especially at Shabbat dinners. That closeness evolves into a “secret” affair. Sammy is tortured over seeing his family drifting apart. However, he eventually comes to terms with life’s mixed messages, and his conflicting inner and outer realities.

When the family is once-again relocated, this time to a home in Los Angeles to accommodate Burt’s ever-increasing job status, Mitzi goes into a deep depression, unable to cope with having to leave Bennie behind. Burt remains cut-off and passive, oblivious to his family’s resentment and deteriorating emotional well-being. Later, via Sammy’s camera lens, the family secret of Mitzi’s affair with Bennie is revealed, which leads to Burt’s and Mitzi’s divorce. Mitzi returns to Arizona to be with Bennie. The divorce leaves the whole family heartbroken. Forever changed.

Psychological Implications
The Fabelmans informs us about family systems theory (Kerr and Bowen, 1988), identifying both its strengths and weaknesses. When one part of the system changes, the whole system changes. Through his camera lens, Spielberg shows us the family pain, and how his family members interconnect, then disconnect, allowing us to view the system as a whole rather than as individual elements. Change in any one individual within a family influences the entire system and leads to changes in other members.

We can look at any film from an individual perspective, or from a family systems perspective. This film not only pays tribute to the family’s interdependent nature, but also ensures their humanity, despite their individual flaws and failings. After the family secret has been revealed, Mitzi tells her son that, just as she cannot give up her love for Bennie, Sammy should not to give up his love for filmmaking. When Sammy is ultimately rejected by Monica and ends up living with Burt in Hollywood and has trouble finding work in the movie industry, Burt begrudgingly accepts his son's passion for filmmaking, even encourages him to keep on his path if it makes him happy. We are a witness to change in the family dynamics.

Family systems theory recognizes the extent to which the family plays a key role in both our emotional and physical well-being across the course of our lives. Most individuals have contact with their family of origin throughout their lives. The family systems perspective lights up the whole emotional environment in which the family calls “home.” For Spielberg, what apparently saved him was the discovery of the “truth” that comes through the camera lens, and it was truth that opened the floodgates to change and set each member of the family free.

Reframing the Horizon
In the end, getting Burt’s seal of approval helps Sammy move forward. Another significant event is when Sammy meets film director John Ford, and Ford offers Sammy some brief pointers about framing, which is exactly what the family systems perspective advises — reframe the horizon!

As the story ends, we see Sammy (Spielberg) walk on to the movie lot and we know we are seeing the beginning of the career of one of the greatest movie directors of our time.

"The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeing new
landscapes, but in having new eyes." — Marcel Proust

Charlyne Gelt, Ph.D. (PSY22909) is a clinical psychologist who practices in Encino. She leads Women's Empowerment Groups that help women learn the tools to move beyond self-destructive relationship patterns. She may be reached at 818.501.4123 or cgelt@earthlink.net. Her office address is 16055 Ventura Blvd. #1129 Encino, CA 91436.