An exploration of the movie Now, Voyager (I. Rapper, 1942)

Individuation is the process of becoming whole, of being the person we are meant to be. It is a process rather than a final product, a journey of self-discovery rather than a final destination, and it always involves transformation. There is no Individuation without relatedness, whether it is to others or to oneself. Among the qualities essential for the Process of Individuation are love, an opening of oneself to others and to the world in general, the courage to face fear with honesty and take risks, a generosity of the heart and the presence of Eros. These are the qualities which allow one to travel from pain to healing, from being a stranger to oneself to finding truly who we are.

I invite you to join me in a discussion of Now, Voyager.

The title of this movie is borrowed from a poem by Walt Whitman “The Untold Want”:

The untold want by life and land ne'er granted,
Now, voyager, sail thou forth, to seek and find.

It is indeed the voyage that Charlotte Vale, a drab, quiet woman who is brutally dominated by her mother, must take. It is a voyage from rejection to love, from fear to the courage to face an abusive parent and from pain to healing.

Presentation organized for the Public Program of OAJA. For more information and to register, visit http://www.cgjungontario.com/courses.html#movies