A Dangerous Method (2011)

Directed by: David Cronenberg | 99 minutes | drama, thriller, biography | Actors: Keira Knightley, Viggo Mortensen, Michael Fassbender, Vincent Cassel, Sarah Gadon, André Hennicke, Arndt Schwering-Sohnrey, Mignon Remé, Mareike Carrière, Franziska Arndt, Wladimir Matuchin, André Dietz, Anna Thalbach, Sarah Marecek, Bjorn Geske, Markus Haase, Christian Serritiello, Clemens Giebel, Theo Meller, Jost Grix, Severin von Hoensbroech, Torsten Knippertz, Dirk S. Greis

Psycho-analysis, is that a subject for a movie? As long as you don’t approach it too theoretically, maybe. Canadian director David Cronenberg – best known for his 1980s horror films – has always been fascinated by the psyche and the effect that physical deterioration has on it. Rarely has the human mind played such a central role in his work as in ‘A Dangerous Method’ (2011), in which he pits two prominent psychoanalysts against each other. On the one hand we have Sigmund Freud (Viggo Mortensen), the Austrian founder, who claimed that neuroses can all be traced to sexual repression or sexual trauma. On the other hand, there is Carl Gustav Jung (Michael Fassbender), his Swiss disciple who primarily saw sexuality as a symbol of the psychological totality of man. Put these two greats together and you get an intellectual jousting game to die for. Would you think. Unfortunately, the confrontations between Freud and Jung in ‘A Dangerous Method’ are kept to a minimum.

Instead, Cronenberg sets his sights on Sabina Spielrein (Keira Knightley), a Russian-Jewish patient of Jung’s who would later become a well-known psychologist. Jung uses Spielrein as a guinea pig for his analytical psychology. The young woman with masochistic tendencies allows Jung to discover a side of himself that he did not know before. Patient Otto Gross (Vincent Cassel), who is being treated for his immoral sexual behavior, further exacerbates mutual tensions and causes Jung to give in to his urges: Spielrein becomes his mistress. His own experiences cause Jung to push for a break with Freud, his teacher, because he can no longer keep his doubts about his view to himself.

The fact that ‘A Dangerous Method’ is based on a play by Christopher Hampton, entitled ‘The Talking Cure’ from 2002, is a sign on the wall: in this film there is a lot, no, a lot of talking. The expected – and hoped – verbal fireworks between Freud and Jung, however, do not materialize. However, the sparse scenes that Mortensen and Fassbender share are the highlight of the film. Knightley visibly tries her best to convince – especially in the first half of the film, during the sessions with Jung – but her chattering jaw that she maneuvers into all sorts of impossible turns and her failed Russian accent mostly get on the nerves. Although you can say that it is brave of her to take on this demanding and physical role. After she is ‘cured’, she does not become more sympathetic to it, by the way. Cronenberg would have been better off limiting himself to Freud and Jung. Certainly Mortensen gets remarkably little screen time and that is all the more a shame because he is the only one who does not take his role too seriously and dares to keep it a bit light-hearted. The theme is of course heavy enough.

With three international stars – four if you include Vincent Cassel’s supporting role – and a top director within the ranks, you can expect the necessary quality, but ‘A Dangerous Method’ is quite disappointing. We have nothing but praise for the actor’s commitment and the film’s production values ​​(although Knightley has simply been found too light for this work), but that doesn’t make a film compelling. ‘A Dangerous Method’ has to contend with an unbalanced and distant script full of endless dialogues. That makes this drama dull and lifeless and we are not used to that from David Cronenberg. Only sporadically does he manage to captivate us when he pits the two great masters of psychoanalysis against each other. But that happens far too infrequently. You simply expect better from someone with Cronenberg’s reputation.