Rating of
3/4
Freud and Jung!
MovieAddict - wrote on 12/27/12
"Sometimes you have to do something unforgivable just to be able to go on living!"
This is a thought-provoking and often disturbing film that takes a look at the intense relationship that developed between Dr. Carl Jung (Michael Fassbender) and Sigmund Freud (Vitto Mortenson) as Jung began treatment on a sadomasochistic neurotic woman named Sabina Spielrein (Keira Knightly). Supposedly suffering from a psycho-sexual disorder she spends the first half the movie convulsing and contorting in agony and this will surely leave an impression in your mind.
Kiera Knightley is definitely the enigma of the film and does a fine job as a Jung/Freud patient, although her performance bears a resemblance, in its twitchiness, to Natalie Portman's in Black Swan. Both Mortensen and Fassbender played their parts in a manner that made me believe their characters could carry the authority you would expect to see in Freud and Jung and the descent into enmity seemed believable and inevitable.
When you hear the words - "it’s a daddy or mommy issue" - you're borrowing from Freud. Or if you are prone to want to interpret dreams or explore your unconsciousness it’s stepping into Jung's territory. Many of said theories would go straight over my head, but I still left the film with a greater insight into the relationship between Freud and Jung, and of psychoanalysis' creation.
A Dangerous Method has just the right amount of discomforting material to keep you fascinated until those final credits roll and the look of the film is beautiful, as are the costumes and sets.
