Cronenberg Served Extra Lite

"A Dangerous Method"

Carl Jung.  Sigmund Freud.  David Cronenberg?  That's right, director David Cronenberg's latest feature is about the famed psychiatrist and neurologist and the friendship the two men had.  Now you're probably scratching your head and wondering why Cronenberg decided to make this his next project considering his two previous works were Eastern Promises and A History of Violence.  Well, for those who are familiar with the director's former features you should realize that a story about Freud and Jung is right up his alley.

Troubled and mentally unstable Sabina Spielrein (Keira Knightly) is brought to a mental institution where she is given therapy sessions by Carl Jung (Michael Fassbender.)  What seems to be the matter with Ms. Spielrein?  All of Sabina's issues seem to stem from traumatic childhood experiences involving her abusive father.  Because of these events she now has a definite taste for masochism.  Who is to be the sadist for her?  Even though it goes completely against doctor patient protocol and despite the fact he is married, Jung goes ahead and has a relationship with her.  He believes it to be somewhat therapeutic for her after he gets the idea from another patient he is treating.  In typical soap opera fashion their relationship begins to get risky and complicated with Jung's pesky conscience getting in the way of their romance.  Feelings get hurt and emotions run high.  Oh what's the good doctor to do?

Notice the absence of Freud from the plot described above.  Yes, Freud (Viggo Mortensen) is in the film but he is very much a supporting character.  Oh sure Jung and Freud do talk about a new method of psychology called psychoanalysis but we are treated to very few of the details behind it.  In fact A Dangerous Method is quite tame and shallow in its presentation of a film that was supposed to be about Jung and Freud.

The scenes that do have Freud and Jung together are quite good but the film isn't really about them.  The screenplay only scratches the surface of a subject matter that could have been quite interesting.  Instead it's about the trite relationship between Jung and Sabina.  Their romance probably would have been more acceptable to watch had it not been for the lackluster performance from Knightly.  Her attempts at doing a Russian accent throughout the film prove painful to listen to.  She seems out of place and out of her element in this picture.  Keira, please do something with Joe Wright again.  Why Cronenberg cast her in the picture remains a mystery.

A Dangerous Method is by no means a bad film but it certainly isn't very engrossing either save for the Fassbender's and Mortensen's performances.  Everything about this film felt restrained.  Cronenberg was holding back from showing us something shocking and different like he always does.  The screenplay felt as though it was bound by a straight jacket.  The ideas and concepts talked about were never fully explored.  The characters lacked any real depth leaving us yearning for more information about these two historical figures.  It felt like Cronenberg was afraid to show us his true vision for the film and instead opted for something the studio could market to a mainstream audience.  Cronenberg and his cast have all done better projects than this.  For a film about sexual repression, the film itself felt repressed by its screenplay.