"A Dangerous Method" Movie Review

"A Dangerous Method" movie poster.

"Suffering from hysteria, Sabina Spielrein (Keira Knightley) is hospitalized under the care of Dr. Carl Jung (Michael Fassbender) who has begun using Dr. Sigmund Freud's (Viggo Mortensen) talking cure with some of his patients. Spielrain's psychological problems are deeply rooted in her childhood and violent father. She is highly intelligent however and hopes to be a doctor, eventually becoming a psychiatrist in her own right. The married Jung and Spielrein eventually become lovers. Jung and Freud develop an almost father-son relationship with Freud seeing the young Jung as his likely successor as the standard-bearer of his beliefs. A deep rift develops between them when Jung diverges from Freud's belief that while psychoanalysis can reveal the cause of psychological problems it cannot cure the patient." Written by garykmcd (Link below.)

Keira Knightley (L) and Michael Fassbender.

An absolutely brilliant movie about not two, but three brilliant minds of the psycho-analytical world, Sabina Spielrein, played by Keira Knightly, Sigmund Freud, played by Viggo Mortensen, and Carl Jung, played by Michael Fassbender. It was quite fun to watch Mr. Mortensen act like Freud, although I can't entirely explain why.

There is something that was a bit absent during the movie, but it's a good thing. Freud and Jung had many discussions together concerning the interpretation of their dreams and analysis of their patients (in particular, Spielrein) but they didn't discuss it overmuch. I know a few people (psychologist majors and alike) who don't usually walk into a movie theatre expecting to learn things, might, for some idiotic reason, think that will be different in the case of this movie. I didn't really learn more than what was already floating around in the ether of common knowledge these days. But I did learn that Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung were not immune to life and its issues, like jealousy, prejudice or submitting to a forbidden relationship.

The only thing that I had a problem with the movie was the stupid tagline they put on the poster: "Based on the true story of Jung, Freud and the patient that came between them." That's not exactly what happened, if anything she tries to patch things up between them. And the tagline also makes one think that (if one does not know the story of Freud and Jung) that they had both slept with her and it caused a rift between them. No, it was all their own fault. They couldn't get over certain ideas, so they ignored each other like they ignored those ideas.

Viggo Mortensen.

Overall, I enjoyed it and thought the performances were all phenomenal. I think they all should've gotten nominated, like Viggo Mortensen has said. The only person I didn't like was Vincent Cassel and that's because his character was a despicable person aptly named Otto Gross. The only actor I thought wasn't performing was Sarah Gadon who played Jung's wife, Emma Jung. Was their relationship really that unpassionate? I'm ill-informed about these people so I can't really judge her performance alongside Mr. Fassbender, but she also seemed unfeeling and aloof as far as her family was concerned as well. I know back then they didn't show their feelings or affection as much as people do now, but even in the privacy of her own home she seemed very distant from everything. I just don't know enough to say for sure.

Also, a side note: I imagine doctors having illicit affairs with their patients probably wasn't as improbable as they make it seem in the film, although very damaging to a career if you want to be taken seriously. It probably happened a lot and still does to a certain degree.

Script available here: http://www.sonyclassics.com/awards-information/screenplays/adangerousmethod_screenplay.pdf.

Favorite Lines:

Sabina Spielrein: [to Jung] I want you to punish me. 

Carl Jung: Sometimes you have to do something unforgivable... just to be able to go on living. 

Sigmund Freud: Experiences like this, however painful, are necessary and inevitable; without them, how can we know life? 

Otto Gross: It seems to me the measure of the true perversity of the human race, that one of its very few reliably pleasurable activities should be the subject of so much hysteria and repression. 

Source: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1571222/