A Dangerous Method Review

Director David Cronenberg takes on Freud and Jung in his new film A Dangerous Method, adapted by Christopher Hampton from his stage play The Talking Cure, which itself was based on John Kerr's 1993 non-fiction book A Most Dangerous Method.

The film chronicles how the relationship between neurologist Sigmund Freud (Viggo Mortensen) and his heir apparent in the field of verbal psychotherapy, Dr. Carl Jung (Michael Fassbender), is impacted by Jung's beautiful, but troubled Russian patient Sabina Spielrein (Keira Knightley). Jung, like Freud, believes in "the talking cure" (psychoanalysis) to treat unbalanced patients, and Sabina is certainly that when she arrives (literally kicking and screaming) at his institute in Zurich in 1904.

Sabina, who is physically contorted by her hysteria, slowly heals thanks to Jung's work, but she also becomes romantically involved with her psychiatrist. The married Jung lies to his father figure Freud about the affair, a sin his mentor deems worse than the actual affair. Freud subsequently loses faith in his friend, causing a permanent rift between the two icons.

A Dangerous Method Trailer

Cronenberg delivers a cold, clinical and at times stagebound film in A Dangerous Method, but it's one that will nevertheless keep you thinking about it long afterward. Anchored by a trio of strong performances, A Dangerous Method presents an intriguing look at two of the foremost trailblazers in the realm of psychoanalysis whose revolutionary methods and ideas we now take for granted.

But this is ultimately a drama about an all-too-human doctor who beds his vulnerable patient and then lies about it, affecting not only his mistress-patient but also his marriage and his relationship with his best friend and mentor. It's also a story about a son, raised to become his father figure's vocational heir, who clashes with the older generation and loses their respect.

While Cronenberg finds the moments of dark humor in the rampant repression of the time, this is ultimately a tragedy that documents the damage caused by Jung's unethical behavior. His actions reveal a man who is as troubled and weak as any of his patients. Also, Sabina, like Freud, is Jewish, and the latter points out to her that the Aryan Jung is basically taking advantage of her, raising many more questions about his reckless actions.



But thanks to the casting of the sad-eyed Fassbender, as much of a study in intense stillness here as he is in the upcoming Shame, the viewer still feels some measure of sympathy for Jung. The actor and the storytellers manage to humanize this historic figure; ditto Mortensen's sly, nuanced depiction of Freud. Vincent Cassel pops up as Otto Gross, the anarchic psychoanalyst whose advocacy of sexual liberation shakes Jung's views and inspires him to act on his own repressed passions.

But it's Knightley who has the trickiest role here, one that could have been over-the-top to the point of camp. Sabina's hysteria and sexual dysfunction (she gets her ass spanked a lot by Fassbender) manifests itself in jaw-jutting, word-choking and pretzel-like body twisting, but Knightley and Cronenberg keep it reined in enough that it doesn't lapse into ridiculousness. Knightley's performance, like her character's condition, grows more subdued as the years pass and her relationship with Jung progresses.

Technically, the production design, costumes and cinematography are all stellar, but there are a few special effects sequences whose budgetary limitations are evident enough to pull you out of the film albeit momentarily. Overall, Cronenberg has fashioned a cerebral, captivating but not particularly entertaining film that will nevertheless provoke discussion and curiosity.

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