Guest Review by Kyle Kuzemchak
The day after seeing Shame (review below), during my Michael Fassbender kick, I saw A Dangerous Method, which centers around the relationship of psychologists Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud, and how Jung’s experiences with one of his patients challenged their friendship.
I was extremely excited to see this movie, as director David Cronenberg’s previous film, Eastern Promises, is one of my favorite movies of all time. Boasting the same actors of Eastern Promises, Viggo Mortensen (The Lord of the Rings) and the grossly underrated Vincent Cassel (Black Swan, Mesrine), I could not wait to see this team work together again. However, the intense arguments and the progression of psychoanalysis were much more dull than I was anticipating.
The film begins with a screaming, kicking, and clawing Sabina Spielrein, portrayed by Keira Knightley (Pirates of the Caribbean), being dragged into a psych ward. Carl Jung (Fassbender) takes her on as a patient, and quickly realizes that her psychological problems are the effects of strange sexual desires. The first psychological interaction between Jung and Spielrein featured Spielrein sputtering, stuttering, and jutting out her jaw while trying to speak. Knightley played this character very well, but watching these spasms was not very entertaining. Jung then goes to Sigmund Freud (Mortensen) for help, and they begin a friendship, constantly debating over their new ideas of psychoanalysis.
Eventually, Freud sends a troubled, disciple psychoanalyst, Otto Gross (Cassel), to Jung, so that he could evaluate Gross. However, Gross ends up teaching Jung more than he could teach back, as Jung was sold on the idea that he should act on every impulse. This advice leads to Jung’s struggle of whether or not to begin an affair with his patient Spielrein, leading to the fall of his and Freud’s friendship.
The film was very slow moving, with a lot of dialogue focused on the psychoanalysis itself, which is not very entertaining for someone who does not have much background in psychology. The intense, reenacted debates of Freud and Jung may be a treat for some psychology buffs to see, but to other people it grows stale after a while. Otto Gross was the main reason for the movement of the plot, yet he was only in the film for about five minutes. The rest of the plot was Freud and Jung building a friendship, debating their ideas, then slowly growing apart, and Jung and Spielrein’s complicated relationship.
The performances were all solid, but I would have liked to see much more out of these actors; no one except for Knightley really left their comfort zone. Mortensen sold Freud’s Austrian accent, but was fairly monotonous, and Fassbender was nothing impressive either. Knightley’s entrance made me feel uncomfortable, which showed that she could either really pull off the character, or I was wincing at her attempts, however I believe it was the first statement. Finally, the directing was straightforward and flawless, as one would expect from the legend Cronenberg, yet he definitely did not put all of his talents toward this film.
The Final Word: Wait to Rent It
The film was very slow moving, with a lot of dialogue focused on the psychoanalysis itself, which is not very entertaining for someone who does not have much background in psychology. The intense, reenacted debates of Freud and Jung may be a treat for some psychology buffs to see, but to other people it grows stale after a while. Otto Gross was the main reason for the movement of the plot, yet he was only in the film for about five minutes. The rest of the plot was Freud and Jung building a friendship, debating their ideas, then slowly growing apart, and Jung and Spielrein’s complicated relationship.
The performances were all solid, but I would have liked to see much more out of these actors; no one except for Knightley really left their comfort zone. Mortensen sold Freud’s Austrian accent, but was fairly monotonous, and Fassbender was nothing impressive either. Knightley’s entrance made me feel uncomfortable, which showed that she could either really pull off the character, or I was wincing at her attempts, however I believe it was the first statement. Finally, the directing was straightforward and flawless, as one would expect from the legend Cronenberg, yet he definitely did not put all of his talents toward this film.
The Final Word: Wait to Rent It
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