Falling in love with Reuben

Who is this wealthy French/Jewish art collector really? What is his secret scar? And why did he commit such a dreadful crime ?

Writing a screenplay is not the same as writing a novel.

'Some things cannot be spoken or discovered until we have been stuck, incapacitated, or blown off course for awhile. Plain sailing is pleasant, but you are not going to explore many unknown realms that way.'
David Whyte

I'm trying to create a psychological profile for Reuben, but I'm stuck once again.

The problem is, I've started to empathize with this character. A lot. Deeply. I want to know him. Hug him. I think I'm beginning to fall in love with him. He's starting to feel like a long lost brother. Or maybe an uncle. Yes, a mysterious uncle. I want something wonderful and good to come out of his suffering in the concentration camp. I don't want him to become a lying, criminal, misogynist. I'm empathizing deeply with the little boy who walked out of Auschwitz. My heart bleeds for him, and five year old Anabel, who much later becomes his wife. How can this story unfold if it isn't his plan to abduct baby Sasha, his granddaughter? The whole story hinges on this terrible act.

When I first wrote the film's synopsis I hadn't figured out he was a holocaust survivor with an extraordinary artist/teacher mother, and and an artist/designer mother in law. This changes everything. With such strong, creative, resourceful women behind him, what possible believable motive could he have for arranging the kidnapping of his own grandchild?
Money ? No. Revenge? For what ? Ideology? Possibly. Pride? Why? To get media attention for what... his business?

Now if anybody reading this has a startling intuition as to what Reuben's motive could be, (you would need to scroll back and read a few of the previous posts), please, please, please leave a note below. Thank you so much in advance.

Is it impossible for male prisoners of war in whatever context, to recover from heinous abuse? Is this a curse Reuben carries, and has to offload? Will he pass this curse onto all his offspring?
Does Shifra have siblings ?
Is there nothing anybody can do to help Reuben transform this curse? Is there a missing something in his life, a father figure maybe who could save him from his own poison?

In the case of my widowed Irish grandmother , what was missing in her life was her husband. Alone, she arranged my departure from Ireland , from my mother, as soon as I was born. The destination was to be as far as her mind would stretch. Scotland. All those years ago the shame of an illegitimate child in Ireland made many women loose their marbles, as well as their babies.

One of America's leading forensic psychologists. Dr. Richard Kocsis has devoted his professional life to figuring out how to spot criminals : arsonists, rapists,abductors , serial murderers etc., and in his opinion, there's no single method for undertaking this difficult task.
But, he asks, 'Does the evidence point to a perpetrator with a fantasy or a plan?'
A fantasy or a plan.
What a great question !

Which was it Reuben? Speak to me.


"Art is the act of triggering deep memories, of what it means to be fully human."

David Whyte

Reuben