When we meet Jake Singer, the thoroughly likable protagonist of Oren Rudavsky’s terrific romantic comedy, “The Treatment,” he’s stalking his ex-girlfriend outside a Manhattan restaurant.
He means no harm to her. He’s just having a hard time letting go.
Jake is in his late 30s, and fortunately he has a good therapist. So good, in fact, that the time may come when Jake can let him go, too.
“The Treatment” screens Oct. 8 and 11 in the Mill Valley Film Festival. It doesn’t have a distributor yet, so it’s possible that these will be the only times the film plays a local theater. Fans of smart comedy, not to mention anyone who’s been through therapy, should move fast.
Actor Chris Eigeman, who plays Jake, isn’t close to the image of neurotic New York Jews that Woody Allen projected for decades. It has something to do with his bland good looks, as well as one’s recollection of the preppies he played 15 years ago when he debuted in Whit Stillman’s arch comedies “Metropolitan” and “Barcelona.”
In fact, “The Treatment” doesn’t particularly seem like a Jewish story unless you’re aware that it was adapted from Daniel Menaker’s 1998 novel by director Rudavsky, who’s best known for the stellar Jewish-themed documentaries (“A Life Apart” and “Hiding and Seeking”) he made with Menachem Daum.
Then again, my experience with shrinks is limited to six weeks almost 20 years ago. The movie might play differently for those with more time on the couch. As Rudavsky told an interviewer earlier this year, “Psychotherapy is the Jewish art.”
While Jake is a deeply assimilated Jew, he’s also an exceedingly compassionate one. At the private school where he teaches English, he’s always standing up for the inner-city black student who was ostensibly brought in for the educational opportunity but in fact was recruited because of his basketball skill.
His relationship with his aging father, a retired doctor beautifully played by Harris Yulin, is infused on both sides with love, respect and concern. Each acknowledges the other’s need for independence, but eagerly provides advice when asked.
Jake has a rockier rapport with his therapist, played to acerbic, hilarious perfection by Ian Holm. Dr. Morales is cocky, demanding and generally unsatisfied with whatever breakthrough Jake claims for himself.
The major one involves a well-off young mother whose son attends Jake’s school. Allegra (shrewdly played by Famke Janssen of “Nip/Tuck”) was suddenly and recently widowed, but it doesn’t stop the duo from falling into an affair.
One curious complication — or should I say manifestation — is Dr. Morales’ occasional materialization when Jake and Allegra are getting intimate. His influence on Jake is so profound that the patient is seeing him where he’s not. To his credit, Jake realizes that urgent action is required.
What makes “The Treatment” so pleasurable is that everyone speaks and acts with unmistakable intelligence. I don’t mean they walk around quoting the Greek classics — though there is some of that — but these are evolved people going through life with their eyes open. That may not have always been the case, especially for Jake, but it is now.
Consequently, whatever missteps Jake takes or messes he makes stem from trying to do what’s right by himself and others. But as my father used to lament, no good deed goes unpunished.
Along with its other virtues, the film does not take itself too seriously. It clocks in at a zippy 81 minutes, with John Zorn’s score sustaining the buoyant mood.
In other words, rest assured that there is absolutely nothing painful about this “Treatment.” On the contrary, it’s one of the most pleasant surprises of the year.
“The Treatment” screens at 8:15 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 8 at the Sequoia Theater, 25 Throckmorton Ave. in Mill Valley, and 9:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 11 at the Smith Rafael Film Center in San Rafael. Tickets: $8-$10 at www.mvff.com or (925) 866-9559.