A Dangerous Method

A Dangerous Method

(David Cronenberg, 2011)

Rating: 3.5/5

Reviewed by Dave Lancaster

Summary: An unusually wordy film from body horror legend David Cronenberg, 'A Dangerous Method' is as fascinating as it is sedated.
 

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The main distraction in 'A Dangerous Method' is that it doesn't have much of a plot. It has an enticing trio of central characters and a lavish sense of time and place, but does little with them.

The ever-brilliant Michael Fassbender takes the lead as Carl Jung, a gifted and rigid psychologist who becomes obsessed with unlocking two people who fascinate him and drive his work: fellow psychologist Sigmund Freud (Viggo Mortensen) and his own hysterical, sexually charged patient turned assistant turned mistress Sabina (Keira Knighley). Somewhere along the way, psychoanalysis is created.

Vincent Cassel has an interesting role as Otto Goss, a seductive psychologist/patient who prefers sinful indulgence to the hard work of morality. He serves as the devil on Jung's weakened shoulder.  

The acting in Cronenberg's 'A Dangerous Method' is all top notch, although Knightley's nymph with her sudden jerks, tics and thick accent will divide opinion. Her work here is brave and dynamic, full of detail and intense to watch. Perhaps even challenging. Against the stuffiest of Mortensen and Fassbender's more repressed characters, she offers a sharp contrast.

All the characters are seeking a type of liberation but are smothered by a wider one-size-fits-all society, which is the closest Christopher Hampton's screenplay comes to providing a plot. 'A Dangerous Method' is a film that reflects this. It's brimming with cathartic, liberating acting but dulled by a sedated, one-size-fits-all arc.

'A Dangerous Method' remains very watchable and intelligent entertainment. As with many period dramas, there is much on screen to admire but the interactions between two incredible (and indeed flawed) minds as Jung and Freud should play out like a competitive game of high-stakes chess. It's unfortunate that it feels more like snap.

Watch the great theatrical trailers for 'A Dangerous Method' right HERE at Cinemas Online

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