The starting point of this article is that in children's play, the play area is normally permitted to collapse, whereas when playing in psychoanalysis is hindered by the repetition compulsion, the analytic frame and contract are upheld and the analytic space or play area guarded. A clinical vignette illustrates the oscillation between the repetition compulsion and a symbolizing dialogue in a female patient. After confronting her silences as a wish to control the analyst, what ensued made it possible to understand the patient as having invited the analyst into a world where words were lacking. Emerging images paved the way for the patient's own interpretation of the stalled rapport. Making use of the asymmetric analytic relationship, she had been convinced that no one was receptive to her inner world. The analytic work reflected paradoxical, constructive aspects of the repetition compulsion.