Review No.11: A Dangerous Method

It seems to have taken me a while to get to my eleventh film but finally I've managed to watch the next on the list which is David Cronenberg's film about the relationship between Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud which is also the director's third film with Viggo Mortensen. The film starts with Jung taking on a new patient in the Russian Sabin Spielrien someone who is initially afraid of Jung but he starts to encourage her own love of psychoanalysis and predictably the two begin a relationship after Jung is egged on by a barmy psychoanalyst played by the brilliant Vincent Cassell. Jung's feelings for Sabin threaten to affect his own marriage so he decides to knock things on the head and move away from the hospital. At the start of the film Jung views Freud as a mentor but as things go on he wonders how much he can trust him and the two fall out later on. Meanwhile Sabin herself starts to excel as an analyst in her own right and at the end of the film things start to come full circle.

It really doesn't surprise me that Cronenberg is the one to direct an adaptation of Christopher Hampton's stage play The Talking Cure as it seems mainly to deal with crazy people and rough sex. That's a little unfair however in a film that has two great central performances from its lead actors with Michael Fassbender brilliantly encapsulating the morally torn Jung and Mortensen becoming a pipe-smoking, advice spouting Freud steals every scene that he is in. Like in X-Men: First Class it seems that Fassbender works better when exploring relationships by two male counterparts who have different views on the same subjects. The weak link in the chain is Keira Knightley who seems to be struggling with a Russian accent, she just about pulls it off, rather than giving us a compelling character. When Sabin has to act crazy in the opening scenes Knightley's performance is almost laughable rather than compelling and overall she is acted off the screen by her male companions. A Dangerous Method looks great every shot is filmed beautifully, the period detail is spot on and Cronenberg's sister has done a fine job with the costumes. My problem with the film was that I never really empathised with any of the characters and for the most part found A Dangerous Method cold and clinical rather than engaging. It was hard to feel sorry for Jung who was thwarted by having to have sex with Keira Knightley on a regular basis nor so for Freud who just came off as a hypocrite. The film is definitely interesting and I learnt some things about these famous figures that I didn't previously know but this is a drama rather a documentary and I never felt myself truly feel for any of the central protagonists.

Verdict: An interesting film that looks fantastic and boasts two great performances is let down by its clinical nature and its lead actress 6.5/10