- Narrator: Since ancient times there have been three great changes in man's idea of himself. Three major blows dealt us in our vanity. Before Copernicus, we thought we were the centre of the universe, that all the heavenly bodies revolved around our Earth. But the great astronomer shattered that conceit and we were forced to admit our planet is but one of many which swing around the sun, that there are other systems beyond our solar system in myriad worlds. Before Charles Darwin man believed he was a species unto himself separate and apart from the animal kingdom. But the great biologist made us see that our physical organism is the product of a vast evolutionary process whose laws are no different for us than for any other form of animal life. Before Sigmund Freud, man believed that what he said and did were the products of his conscious will alone. But the great psychologist demonstrate the existence of another part of our mind, which functions in darkest secrecy and can even rule our lives. This is the story of Freud's descent into a region almost as black as hell itself: Man's unconscious, and how he let in the light.
- Martha Freud: [speaking of Professor Meynert] He's dying, Sigi.
- Sigmund Freud: How astonished he must be. He took himself for Jehovah.
- Sigmund Freud: [when Dr. Breuer is the only one to shake hands with him after he has presented a controversial theory] You're not afraid to touch the leper?
- Dr. Joseph Breuer: We close our eyes to the infinite variety of life when we try to reduce it to a single law.
- Narrator: Know thyself. 2000 years ago these words were carved on the temple of Delphi. Know thyself. They are the beginning of wisdom. In them lies the single hope of victory over man's oldest enemy: his vanity. This knowledge is now within our grasp. Will we use it? Let us hope.
- Dr. Theodore Meynert: Freud? Come in. Closer, come closer. I read all your pieces in the Neurological Journal. Your style has become more sober, less belligerent. You learned how to set forth your views without wounding anyone. In short, they are fit for the waste basket.
- Sigmund Freud: If you asked me...
- Dr. Theodore Meynert: Spare a dying man, please. Breuer tells me that you've given up your idea of proving the existence of hysteria. Pity. I could've settled the question by presenting you with a classic case.
- Sigmund Freud: Who?
- Dr. Theodore Meynert: Myself. I have a whole complex of symptoms. Migraine, night tears, even paralysis. Remember how I carried my right hand thumb hooked around the waistcoat button, as though I was having my portrait painted? You never suspected, did you?
- Sigmund Freud: Did you know all this when you drove me away from your clinic?
- Dr. Theodore Meynert: I knew it before Charcot. I've known it for 20 years.
- Sigmund Freud: And yet you held me up to ridicule before our colleagues, made me out a charlatan?
- Dr. Theodore Meynert: Ham was cursed by his father for seeing him naked. You were my spiritual son... I'm not sleeping. I'm gathering my energies. Sit down. Don't interrupt... Neurotics form a brotherhood. They learn to recognize each other as I did you. There's only one rule: silence in the presence of the enemy. Our common enemy. The normal people would knock out deformities, torment and degrade us. You, Freud, belong to the brotherhood. I feared you because you seemed determined to betray us. So I did what I could to discredit you. My life has been a sham. I misused my talents, hiding the truth even from myself. I suppressed my real being. Result: I'm dying in the state of pride and ignorance. I don't know who I am. It's not I who lived my life, but another: the creation of my vanity. Break the silence. Do what you set out to do. Betray us. We need a traitor. Go to heart of our darkness. Find out the dragon.
- Sigmund Freud: Angels and saints slay dragon. I'm neither.
- Dr. Theodore Meynert: If you lack the strength, make a pact to the devil. What a splendid thing - to descend to hell and light your torch with its fires. Farewell.
- Sigmund Freud: Farewell.
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