[2] Set in 1919, the book's first three movements consist of the erotic fantasies and case history of a patient of Sigmund Freud, “Anna G”, an opera singer referred to him for analysis[3] and treatment of chronic psychosomatic pains in her left breast and ovary.

Freud attempts to identify some incident in her past that would explain these pains, and elicits from her a long erotic narrative – called "Don Giovanni", because she had written it on this musical score – in verse and then prose.

Following inconclusive treatment, Frau Anna G – revealed to be Elisabeth (Lisa) Erdman of Vienna – pursues a moderately successful musical career and marries a Russian Jewish opera singer, with whom she moves to Kiev in the 1920s.

When he disappears in a Communist purge, she falls upon hard times and the third movement is set in 1941, when German troops capture Kiev.

These have included attempts by Bernardo Bertolucci with Barbra Streisand, by David Lynch with Isabella Rossellini, by Simon Monjack with Brittany Murphy, and by Emir Kusturica with Nicole Kidman.