# The Century of the Self (2002)

> A four-part BBC documentary tracing how Freud's theories of desire were turned into tools for advertising and politics.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/65687

## Facts

- Seasons: 1
- Episodes: 4
- Episode runtime: 58 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: documentary
- Created by: Adam Curtis
- Network: BBC Two
- Cast: Adam Curtis, Anne Bernays, Martin Bergmann, Robert Reich, Edward L. Bernays, Sigmund Freud, Anna Freud, Wilhelm Reich
- TMDB rating: 8.7/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0432232/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: measured
- Intensity: moderate
- Complexity: dense
- Violence: none
- Tone: analytical, skeptical, unsettling, measured, intellectual

## What critics say

Viewers broadly regard the four-part documentary as an acclaimed, exhaustive and provocative account of how Freudian ideas shaped advertising, consumerism and politics.

## Synopsis

The Century of the Self (2002) is a British documentary miniseries created by Adam Curtis for BBC Two. Across four hour-long episodes, the series follows the ideas of Sigmund Freud as they travel from the consulting room into the boardroom and the political campaign. Curtis narrates an argument built from archive footage, shaping the story around figures such as Edward L. Bernays, the American publicist who borrowed his cousin Freud's theories to sell products, and later voices that turned those methods toward governments. Interviews with Anne Bernays and Martin Bergmann add personal testimony, while archive appearances by Anna Freud, Wilhelm Reich, Tony Blair and Margaret Thatcher show how the ideas reached the stage of public life. Rather than a single case of the week, the series is one continuous essay, each episode carrying the argument further in a measured, skeptical register. The mood is cool and analytical, unsettling in its suggestion that desire itself has been studied, mapped and managed. Fans of Adam Curtis's later essay films, The Power of Nightmares and The Corporation, will find the same investigative curiosity and the same pleasure in connecting distant events into a single hidden history.

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