Review of A Dangerous Method (2011) by Storytellershannon M — 14 Sep 2013

There's a distant clinical feeling to this piece that keeps the audience at arm's length and therefore might work against it on some level. The focus is upon Dr. Sigmund Freud (played by Viggo Mortensen) and Dr. Carl Jung (played by Michael Fassbender) shortly before World War I takes place and Jung is helping a disturbed patient named Sabina Spielrein (Keira Knightly) who later becomes his lover for experimental sexual pleasures and even later a psychotherapist with her own views. There seems to be a strong push and pull feel between rationalistic psychology of Freud and intuitive psychology of Jung with some subdued conflict between the two personalities. On the whole it's an interesting look at three historical people back in the day but I've heard there are some historical inaccuracies or improper delivery of certain theories. An end narration of what happened to each of these three people follows at the end of the picture.

As the topic is narrowly focused and not "high concept" it will have a "boutique" style audience, I suspect, but still a good movie if you find the details interesting. Minor nudity, people. The screenplay was adapted by writer Christopher Hampton from his 2002 stage play The Talking Cure, which was based on the 1993 non-fiction book by John Kerr, A Most Dangerous Method: The story of Jung, Freud, and Sabina Spielrein. The budget for this picture was $15M and it made a bit over $27M at the Box Office.

STORY/PLOTTING: B; CHARACTERS/DIALOGUE: B; THEMATIC FOCUS DELIVERIES: B; OVERALL GRADE: B; WHEN WATCHED: mid May 2012.