Review of A Dangerous Method (2011) by Douglas R — 01 May 2012

"Sometimes you have to do something unforgivable just to be able to go on living.".

David Cronenberg's "A Dangerous Method" charts the early work and relationship of Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung, progenitors of psychoanalysis, and contributions of former patient, then later colleague, Sabina Spielrein. While preoccupied with the wiring of the human mind, Cronenberg's protagonists are fallible to their own repressed desires and neuroses, becoming character studies for the audience. Both men feel adamantly vindicated in their theories, unable to acknowledge the truth in each other's arguments. Even the film is tonally restrained, but the parley between Freud and Jung is rich and incisive, underplayed brilliantly by Viggo Mortensen and Michael Fassbender. Keira Knightley gives a delectable performance.