3 ½ stars (out of four)
Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud were masters of the human psyche
so it should come as no surprise that their own unconscious minds were as
subject to analysis as any of their patients’. The revolutionary field of psychoanalysis,
referred to at the turn of the century as “the talking cure,” brought in a new
era of self-awareness and its founders were perhaps more prone than anyone to
scrutinize their every thought and desire.
A Dangerous Method,
directed by David Cronenberg and adapted by Christopher Hampton from his own
stage play, introduces Carl Jung (Michael Fassbender) as he tests his “talking
cure” on a newly admitted patient named Sabina Spielrein (Keira Knightly), a
ravenous young Russian woman prone to fits and spasms. In a single whirlwind
session, he gets her to discuss her childhood experience being spanked by her
father. The spankings, she confesses to Jung, excited her.
Enter Freud, played with dignified stoicism by Viggo
Mortensen and rarely seen not smoking a classically phallic cigar. Jung visits
Freud’s Vienna home to discuss their research and is thrilled to find an
intellectual advisor with whom he can discuss his radical ideas. Freud takes
him on as a mentor or rather, as Jung more explicitly describes their
relationship, Jung takes Freud on as a “father figure.” Their friendship begins
to wane, however, when Jung takes interest in subjects Freud dismisses as
mysticism. Freud fears interest in a field such as telepathy will only fuel
skeptics’ criticism of their work.
On these topics and others Freud and Jung engage one another
and the film is loosely structured around a series of conversations between
them and between Jung and Spielrein. Sometimes they discuss their ideas in
speculative theoretical terms; sometimes they apply their theories to their own
dreams and feelings.
The fun of these conversations is watching these historical
characters influence one another, not only in their academic work but in their
personal lives. A wonderfully slimy Vincent Cassel appears in a brief
supporting role as Otto Gross, a psychiatrist Freud recommends stay with Jung
for treatment. Gross is a married man and proud polygamist who sees no harm in
sleeping with his patients. These so-called deviances, he explains to Jung, are
simply part of the natural order of things. Why deprive yourself what you want?
What your mind and body need? These persuasive ideas get Jung into trouble when
Spielrein expresses interest in expanding their current physician-patient
relationship.
Mr. Cassel also gets one of the film’s more audacious lines
(and I paraphrase): “Perhaps the reason Freud is so obsessed with sex is
because he isn’t getting any.” There are a number of moments like this in the
film – a jolt of humor or an unexpectedly frank remark that reminds us of the
unpredictable alchemy that occurs when two people interact. Too often
historical dramas and biopics present their characters the way their public
personas made them seem rather than allowing them to be vibrant, complex human
beings as they are here.
The performances reinforce this. Mr. Fassbender’s Jung is a
man of impeccable reserve but watch how a boyish excitement creeps into his
voice when talking with Freud, or how emotionally vulnerable he becomes in
Spielrein’s company. Ms. Knightley’s performance is a risky one; her facial
tics and stuttering speech in the opening scenes are pronounced to an almost
distracting degree but she pulls it off. Her choices are bold but consistent.
In later scenes, after Spielrein has been treated, she still speaks with the
cautious pace of someone who has no less than a dozen thoughts running through
her mind and must sift through them to select the words that will reveal her
true emotions the least.
Viggo Mortensen commands an austere presence as Freud,
enunciating his words with the clarity and confidence of a man who does not think he is right but, rather, knows he is. This is Mr. Mortensen’s third consecutive
collaboration with David Cronenberg (A History of Violence and Eastern Promises are the other two) and the pairing has thus far
resulted in some of the best work of either’s career.
A Dangerous Method is
rich with period detail and beautifully shot by Mr. Cronenberg’s longtime
cinematographer collaborator, Peter Suschitzky. Mr. Cronenberg and Mr. Hampton
also stay true to the period in more subtle ways. The film does not hesitate to
explore sexual taboos of the era and makes reference to rising tensions between
Aryans and Jews, including an odd premonition from Jung late in the film that
seems to predict the coming World Wars. These unexpected wrinkles are what make
the film so enticing. This is a succinct and relatively brief film (most of Mr.
Cronenberg’s movies are) but leaves room for strange and pleasantly perplexing
inclusions.
The ending feels anticlimactic at first but the movie never
makes many major dramatic moves prior to this so a low-key finish is
appropriate. The film is a study of relationships and the nuances and details
of its characters’ interactions are what my mind continues to turn over days
after seeing it.
- Steve Avigliano, 12/30/11
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