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A Dangerous Method

Review by Anthony Morris



a dangerous method

a dangerous method

It's the turn of the 20th century, and in Zurich Dr Karl Jung (Michael Fassenbender) is working in the controversial new field of psychoanalysis when a young Russian-Jewish woman, Sabina Spielrein (Keira Knightley) comes into his care.

Supposedly suffering from "hysteria", the talking cure soon uncovers a variety of personal issues that have led to her current state, and with many of her kinks out in the open Jung is more than happy to help her in her desire to become a psychoanalyst herself.

Meanwhile, Jung's relationship with his mentor Freud (Viggo Mortensen) is increasingly fragile thanks to his growing personal relationship with Sabina.

Freud is obsessed with the survival of his new field, and having its leading practitioner embroiled in controversy – or increasingly interested in areas verging on the supernatural - isn't exactly what he had in mind.

David Cronenberg's latest move away from the “body horror” film that made his name is, unsurprisingly as it was based on a play, heavily performance based and the trio of main performances (with Vincent Cassel as rival shrink Otto Gross) are all slightly surreal in various ways.

This heightened realism actually works well once you get used to it: Knightly is the most impressive as she pulls all manner of faces to indicate her character’s internal turmoil, while Fassenbender is a stuffed shirt with a heart of gold and Mortensen is, as you’d expect from Freud, something of a coiled snake, always holding back, a threat behind his smile and ever-present cigar.

The way the relationships play out between the trio are interesting but (ironically) there’s not a whole lot of depth here.

The real punch comes with the realisation late in the piece that this whole world would be wiped away by two world wars, the characters neuroses eventually writ large across the entire continent, tearing it apart.

3.5 out of 5


A Dangerous Method
Australian release: 29th March, 2012
Official Site: A Dangerous Method
Cast: Keira Knightley, Viggo Mortensen, Michael Fassbender, Vincent Cassel, Sarah Gadon, André Hennicke, Arndt Schwering-Sohnrey
Director: David Cronenberg

A Dangerous Method



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