A Dangerous Method

Michael Fassbender, Viggo Mortensen, Keira Knightley, Vincent Cassel, Sarah Gadon

Dir. David Cronenberg
Scr. Christopher Hampton

Viggo Mortensen, talking on a movie review show, said this was the film Cronenberg should have got some sort of Oscar recognition for. I don’t think I agree with Viggo, but this film is certainly one of Cronenberg’s most accessible. Don’t be sucked in by the poor marketing – this is not an historic love triangle, with some hysteria thrown in. Instead, this film is a conversation, over many years, between two great minds. It might be a little tedious for those who don’t much care for the history of psychoanalysis, but I recommend it very much for those who do. And, at its core, are three very fine performances which are well worth the price of admission.

Jung (Fassbender) and Freud (Mortensen) are largely accredited with the birth and development of the technique of psychoanalysis, or the talking cure. This film follows the early days of Jung’s interest and adoption of the cure, and the patient that he transforms and that transforms him – Sabina Spielrein (Knightley) – as well as his ultimately fraught relationship with his mentor, Sigmund Freud. Told over a dozen or so years, we accompany Jung on an intellectual and emotional journey, as his ideas and relationships both enlighten and destroy his mind.

Cronenberg treats us to a lush and authentic early 20th century – in the mountains of Zurich, in the city of Vienna, in the harbour of New York. This film looks mighty good. When you have Viggo on board you can also be assured of authenticity to a sometimes ridiculous point – he spent months in Vienna and sourced many of the books you see around him on screen, to make sure they were the same titles and of the same vintage as Freud himself owned. Knightley made sure to get Sabina’s hysterical ticks and mannerisms (which are disturbing indeed) exactly right. This all adds up to an immersive experience for the audience.

This is not, though, necessarily an easy watch. The sessions between Jung and Sabina are unsettling, as was her life and her illness. Their other, more intimate “sessions” are equally disturbing and graphic, though I would argue definitely not gratuitously so. Cronenberg is not one to shy away from such discomfort for the audience and, in this particular film, rightly so. But I would argue he does show restraint and a wisdom in this story-telling than he perhaps would have a decade or two ago.

While the conversational and sometimes overly measured nature of this film may bore some, what cannot be ignored are the performances of the three top-billed actors. Each are phenomenally good and, in the case of Knightley, surprisingly so. I am not a Knightley fan at all – much of her acting in the past has consisted of varying degrees of pouting. If she doesn’t ruin a film, I mark it as a success. But this film (as well as Never Let Me Go, which I saw on dvd recently) has really made me reconsider. She is wonderfully feral and vulnerable and insightful – I think it really does help that she doesn’t have to carry this film as a conventional romantic interest. Mortensen is equally good – his role is relatively small in terms of time on screen, but his persona hangs over every scene as the all-knowing Freud. The real star for me, though, is Fassbender. His Jung is at times quite naive and almost comical, at times hopelessly burdened, at times wonderfully idealistic and optimistic, at times utterly tortured by his own demons. Fassbender plays it all to perfection. I don’t doubt that he could read the phonebook on screen and I would be transfixed.

You’ll need to have your wits about you if you go to see this film. This isn’t escapist cinema – this is pay attention and think about it cinema. It’s very talky. If it doesn’t sound like your cup of tea, don’t go. But if it does, even a little, pay your money and take your seat. You’ll at the very least be treated to some lovely sets and costumes, three brilliant performances and a very interesting history lesson.

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Carl Jung: Sometimes you have to do something unforgivable... just to be able to go on living.