An Examination Of The Movie “The Story Of Us” With The Approach Of Couples Therapy Using The Method Of Film Analyses

Abstract

The Story of Us tells the rollercoaster story of Katie and her husband Ben, who struggle to
maintain their 15-year marriage. Through flashbacks, the movie shows the happy and sad
moments from when they first met to the day they arrived. The couple, who pretend to be happy
in order not to show it to their children, decide to re-evaluate their relationship when their
children leave home for camp, after which the spouses attend couple therapy and try to improve
their relationship. In this study, the Emotion Focused Therapy model, which is a sub-model of
the Experiential Approaches developed by Carl Whitaker and Virginia Satir, and the movie The
Story of Us will be examined together. Developed by Greenberg and Johnson, Emotion Focused
Therapies emphasize the experiences of clients by drawing attention to the prominence of
emotions in therapy. In this study, the aims of Emotion Focused Therapy, its basic concepts,
the way it is applied and how to use it in film analysis are covered. The purpose of choosing
the Emotion Focused Therapy model in the analysis is that it is the most appropriate therapy
method for the characters in the movie and for solving the problems between the couple. Film
analysis method will be used in this study. The film analysis method is very popular recently
and attracts people's attention more easily because people have the opportunity to look at the
way of life and problems in their daily lives from the outside and empathize with them through
the films they watch. As a result, the film, which contains this family picture that we can
encounter in our normal lives, has started to be examined because it will be a frequent subject
of couple and family therapies, to guide new film analysis and to contribute to Emotion Focused
Therapy methods.