On the eve of World War I, Zurich and Vienna are the setting for a dark tale of sexual and intellectual discovery. Drawn from true-life events, A Dangerous Method takes a glimpse into the turbulent relationships between fledgling psychiatrist Carl Jung, his mentor Sigmund Freud and Sabina Spielrein, the troubled but beautiful young woman who comes between them. Into the mix comes Otto Gross, a debauched patient who is determined to push the boundaries. In this exploration of sensuality, ambition and deceit set the scene for the pivotal moment when Jung, Freud and... Sabina come together and split apart, forever changing the face of modern thought. A Dangerous Method was directed by David Cronenberg (Eastern Promises, A History of Violence, Crash) from a screenplay by Academy Award® winning writer Christopher Hampton (Atonement, Dangerous Liaisons), who adapted his own stage play The Talking Cure for the screen. Academy Award® nominee Keira Knightley (Never Let Me Go, Atonement, Pride and Prejudice) stars as Sabina Spielrein opposite fast-rising star Michael Fassbender (Inglourious Basterds, Fish Tank, Hunger and the upcoming Jane Eyre, X-Men: First Class and Prometheus) as Carl Jung, with Academy Award® nominee Viggo Mortensen (Eastern Promises, A History of Violence, Lord of the Rings trilogy) as Sigmund Freud. Vincent Cassel (Black Swan, Mesrine) plays Otto Gross, and Canadian newcomer Sarah Gadon plays Jungs wife Emma. [show more]
David Cronenberg's A Dangerous Method tells the famous story of Sigmund Freud (Viggo Mortenson) and Carl Jung (Michael Fassbender) as their friendship is tested by their ideological differences, conflicting egos and Jung's decision to take one of his patients as his mistress.
I would have to admit that my immediate response to it was somewhat unusual: although I was always very conscious of the fact that what I was watching was pretty awful, I still found it to be an enjoyable enough experience. My reaction to watching a bad film is usually a mixture of boredom, irritation and disappointment but by the end of Cronenberg's latest my predominant emotion was simply curiosity as to why a film that seems to have all the elements of a quality costume drama should fail quite so badly.
At a glance, everything would seem to be in order: a historical drama based upon the relationship between the founding fathers of modern psychology and the patient that came between them, a trio of excellent actors in the main roles as well as a couple of great supporting players and a veteran director to helm the whole thing.
For the most part, things go according to plan: pre-war Zurich is recreated in intricate period detail, the two leading men are on great form, the scenes they share offer an intriguing look at how the field of modern psychology was formed, Vincent Cassel is hilarious in his minor role as the unapologetically nymphomaniacal Otto Gross and the whole film is shot in pleasant, if unspectacular fashion.
Keira Knightley's performance is harder to quantify. Admittedly, it's an extremely difficult role: Sabina begins the film as little more than a rambling lunatic, the early scenes of her in treatment are intense and uncomfortable and Knightley equips herself well, perhaps occasionally going a little over the top and becoming cringe-worthy for the wrong reasons.
The other issue is the accent: although it turns out Knightly can do a pretty serviceable Russian, she's the only one to adopt their character's accent and it sounds immensely out of place in a film in which everyone else speaks like an Englishman. (Except Gross who simply speaks like Vincent Cassel)
This has always befuddled me slightly: if you're going to make a film in which Europeans all speak English to one another, why not just have them do so in the actor's actual accent? Is anyone's ability to suspend their disbelief actually improved by characters speaking completely the wrong language in the right accent?
More to the point, why do Mortenson and Fassbender pretend to be English to play Austrian and Swiss respectively? It's just weird.
To be honest, though, the film's severe case of cinematic Foreign Accent Syndrome, whilst slightly distracting, didn't really hamper my enjoyment of it.
What did was the fact that it is a complete and utter failure as a piece of storytelling.
The film focuses upon two relationships - Jung's romance with Sabina and his friendship/rivalry with Freud- and handles both awfully. The romantic storyline is the less offensive of the two, its main problem is simply that the film can't decide whether it wants to depict it in purely psychological terms or turn it into a more conventional Hollywood romance. The result is an awkward mix of the two that never really engages emotionally or intellectually.
Jung and Freud's, on the other hand, is quite spectacularly mishandled: we never actually see their friendship dissolve, we're just explicitly told at certain points that they have grown further apart without any tangible change in the dynamic between them.
Much more infuriating, though, is Cronenberg's apparent inability to decide what the cause of the divide was: Freud's jealousy of Jung's wealth, his anti-Semitic paranoia, Jung's belief in the supernatural and his affair with Sabina; each is brought up then immediately dropped in the most random fashion, as if the film hoped that by shuffling them fast enough, it might convince the audience that they've been offered a convincing explanation.
There's nothing wrong with trying to present the breakdown of a relationship as ambiguous and multi-faceted, that's just realistic, but as a story it ought to make sure that shifts in the dynamics between its characters feel like they have occurred for a reason. We're offered no insight into what is really making the characters tick and as such, it is impossible to really connect with them.
I don't know whether these problems were present in the screenplay or whether the blame must fall upon Croneneberg in its entirety but it feels an awful lot like he simply shot a bunch of scenes of great actors holding intense, intellectual conversations and then just stitched them together without deciding what the overlying narrative was supposed to be.
As I said, A Dangerous Method is not a film I dislike; the set and costume design are gorgeous, it provides some genuinely interesting observations upon a field that now plays a massive role in our society and contains several excellent actors, all of whom are on excellent form. The fact that it manages to be so much less than the sum of its parts just makes it hugely disappointing: it's a great story based upon two of the most important minds in recent history, told by an experienced director with a decent budget and a host of great actors at his disposal.
In truth, it's not a terrible film, it's just so much worse than it should be.
Excellent period drama about the friendship and professional rivalry between 20th century intellectuals Carl Jung (Michael Fassbender) and Sigmund Freud (Viggo Mortensen): Based on the play by Christopher Hampton, 'A Dangerous Method' explores the early years of psychiatry and revolves around Jung's adulterous affair with a patient; hysterical Jewess Sabina Speilrein (Kiera Knightley).
Cult Canadian director David Cronenberg's first foray into this genre is a resounding success, for he speeds through the years at a commendable pace and by doing so ensures that he makes the film as streamlined as possible. In fact, looking back, there wasn't a single unnecessary scene and every word served a purpose. Fassbender and Mortensen are superb in their respective roles, and its impossible to chose one performance over the other as they re-enact an epic meeting of minds on the battlefield of ideas: In the absence of an established orthodoxy; psychiatry, a pseudo-science to some, an invaluable tool for others, was more or less a free-for-all with competing theories and academics trying to impose an agreed upon set of rules for this new, potentially lucrative, profession. And so we see Freud's rather pompous, rigid and dogmatic approach to psychoanalysis at odds with Jung's more open minded ventures into parapsychology and the altogether blasphemous idea that psychiatry can also cure a troubled mind as opposed to simply define the ailment afflicting it.
Vincent Cassell makes a memorable cameo as anarchic, off-the-wall thinker Otto Gross who declares that Freud's insistence to relate everything back to sex is simply because "...he doesn't get any", this joke crops up again with the good doctor's hilarious interpretation of Jung's dream about a horse & cart. Freud's paranoia about anti-Semitism is also addressed, and the film subtly suggests that this persecution complex, though understandable to some degree, actually betrays his own anti-Christian bias and makes an issue out of something that isn't there. Even going so far as to wrongly suspect Jung's intentions towards Sabine, based purely upon the fact that she's a Jew and that he belongs to the "Aryan" race.
Now it has to be said, that in stark contrast to the stellar performances by Mortensen and Fassbender, it was Kiera Knightley's portrayal of Sabine Seligman that stuck out like a sore thumb. Knightley initially overacts to such an extent that it seems like she's in a different film altogether, they even make her utter the unintentionally comedic line: "I'm not mad, you know". At first, this was enough for me to reconsider my rating but on reflection, she is supposed to be playing a character whose suffering from hysteria and she does reign it in about 15 minutes into the film so it doesn't take you out of the story other than in the first few, OTT scenes.
'A Dangerous Method' won't appeal to everyone, there's hardly any action and it does require some patience to get into, but once the narrative gets going, it makes for an engaging and often fascinating account of the academic and social experience in 1900s Austria.
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Please note this is a region 2 DVD and will require a region 2 (Europe) or region Free DVD Player in order to play. Viggo Mortensen and Michael Fassbender star in director David Cronenberg's adaptation of Christopher Hampton's play detailing the deteriorating relationship between Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung. The year is 1904. Carl Jung (Fassbender), a disciple of Sigmund Freud (Mortensen), is using Freudian techniques to treat Russian-Jewish psychiatric patient Sabina Spielrein (Keira Knightley) at Burgholzli Mental Hospital. But the deeper Jung's relationship with Spielrein grows, the further the burgeoning psychiatrist and his highly respected mentor drift apart. As Jung struggles to help his patient overcome some pressing paternal issues, disturbed patient Otto Gross (Vincent Cassel) sets out to test the boundaries of the doctor's professional resolve.
David Cronenberg directs this drama based on the relationship between the two founding fathers of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung. The film, which draws from both the stage play, 'Taking the Cure', by Christopher Hampton and the 1993 book, 'A Most Dangerous Method', by John Kerr, also portrays Jung's sexual affair with one of his female patients. Set in early 20th century Europe, the film traces the intense personal and professional relationship between Freud (Viggo Mortensen) and his protégé, Carl Jung (Michael Fassbender). When married family man Jung takes in beautiful young Russian patient Sabina Spielrin (Keira Knightley) for treatment at his clinic in Switzerland, she quickly becomes his muse and the two soon embark on a passionate sadomasochistic affair. Meanwhile, Freud and Jung's views and theories are developing in opposing directions, eventually leading to an insurmountable rift between the two.
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