CASE PRESENTATION

[…] Again Martha starts skipping sessions and when she shows up brings poems by Alfonsina Storni, insistently pressing me to supply her with Alfonsina's latest poem - the one she wrote before taking her life. She tells me of her fantasies of not having been "desired" by her parents, and that her mother was a fool for not being courageous enough to go through abortion when carrying her. The worshipping of her father turns, according to her, into hate... She identifies herself with Mina, the female character in Dracula, (the Coppola film was at the time up and running, she was reading books on the topic) though she doubts if she would be ready to let herself die in order to be loved by the vampire. She asks me to translate Madonna's lyrics into Spanish; I ask her what she fancies the lyrics tell, she says they are about all the forbidden things Madonna does and that they for sure carry diabolic messages.

NARRATIVE OF A SESSION

Martha: Last night I saw a movie that impressed me. It's name is House of Cards. Did you see it? The plot revolves around a girl who witnesses the accidental death of her archeologist father... Well, to make a long story short the girl is taken into the care of a therapist who with the assistance of the mother relieves her. The film ends with mother and daughter coming together, asserting their mutual love and friendship: during the daughter's illness they missed and needed each other's support but were unable to connect. The film is really moving, I liked it a lot.

Analyst: Why did it move you so much? That's not the sort of movie you usually watch, right? Martha: I don't know… [she remains silent, brooding] I don't fancy anything special. The analyst was Tommy Lee Jones and he gazed at the girl through a kind of mirrored glass so the girl didn't know he was looking at her. I would die if you did that sort of thing to me… This guy was making psychiatric faces… Through the years one gains some knowledge… [she smiles] I know better than you think… [she eyes her watch] Won't you ask me anything?

[…]

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