What would a film about Freud be without dream sequences and symbolism? Set in Vienna during the days leading up to World War II, both sorts of imagery occupy prime real estate in Nikolaus Leytner’s strikingly appointed coming-of-age drama. With money tight and the prospects of securing a new meal-ticket uncertain, mom has no choice but to ship her only son Franz (Simon Morzé) from Attersee to Vienna, where he’ll live with, and apprentice under, a former lover. Otto (Johannes Krisch) is more than just a cancer salesman; he’s a one-man (and -legged, thanks to WWI) authority on smoking culture. Franz’s first impression of Sigmund Freud (Bruno Ganz) comes from the town postman. When asked what the doc specializes in, he replies, “He treats nutcases.” It’s his relationship with a Bohemian dancer that causes Franz to wonder if maybe he’s one of them, and to seek the advice of the shop’s most famous stogie sucker. The degree of down-to-earth rapport reached by Morzé and Ganz would normally be recommendation enough, but the story is at its most compelling when the stars are asked to share billing with the rise of Naziism. Without the balance of equal attention, it would be a simple tale of hero-worship, a variation on My Favorite Year with psychoanalysis and Nazis substituting for Errol Flynn and NBC. (2018) — Scott Marks