A DANGEROUS METHOD
Directed by: David Cronenberg
Written by: Christopher Hampton (play, screenplay), John Kerr (book)
Starring: Michael Fassbender, Kiera Knightley, Viggo Mortensen, Sarah Gadon, and Vincent Cassel
Director David Cronenberg is perhaps best known for directing intense psychological thrillers. Even his more reserved later works – such as the brilliantly layered and criminally underrated A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE – exhibit depth and dimension. While his latest film, the physiological period drama A DANGEROUS METHOD, will on some levels fall into that category, it’s incredibly bogged down with analysis (Christopher Hampton’s play the film was based on wasn’t called “The Talking Cure” for nothing) and is perhaps too cerebral for mass market audiences. Nonetheless, this is a sophisticated and intellectual ménage a trios of refined performances.
It is 1904 in Zurich, Switzerland where we first meet new Burgholzi hospital patient Sabina Spielrein (Kiera Knightley). She is a frazzled mess of motor tics, spending much of the first reel screaming and flailing about. Having been sent to the clinic to participate in a revolutionary new form of treatment invented by Sigmund Freud (Viggo Mortensen) and under the care of fledgling psychiatrist Dr. Carl Jung (Michael Fassbender), she takes to psychoanalysis (or “the talking cure”) like a duck to water. During her long stay at the clinic, Sabina’s role morphs from patient to protégé, and Jung’s relationship with Freud also takes on a new dimension. Once Otto Gross (played by the consummate shit-disturber Vincent Cassel) shows up to play the whispering devil on Jung’s shoulder, Jung surrenders his moral code of ethics and enters into a sexual tryst with Sabina – not necessarily for sexual pleasure but in the hopes of healing her. Lines in the doctor-patient relationship are blurred and new boundaries are pushed.
A DANGEROUS METHOD is painfully restrained from any melodrama or sexiness – so much so that there’s a certain cold, overly talky quality to the picture. Considering the subject matter, how could it not be? However, there is enough to keep viewers tethered to the film. The performances by the three leads – especially Knightley – make it worth seeing. It’s amazing to see the transformation of Knightley’s Sabina from a hysterical, ashamed and broken young girl into fully developed, brave, and in-control woman with a vulnerable edge. It also speaks volumes of Knightley’s talent to steal the spotlight away from her two male co-stars, who are just as domineering in their own right. Fassbender plays Jung’s disappointments and decisions (both good and bad) with such elegant subtlety. Mortensen’s Freud is wickedly charming and sly – a Freud we’ve never seen before.
Power shifts are an important theme in the film. We are able to see this in relationships between Jung and Sabina, Jung and Freud, and Sabina and Freud. Most surprising is how Hampton’s script positions the role of females in the film. Both Sabina and Jung’s wife Emma (Sarah Gadon) manage to be strong influences on his life. Jung couldn’t have gotten anywhere without his wife’s financial and moral support. Also, Jung felt conflicted about cheating on his wife with Sabina, even though in his mind he thought he was helping his patient be cured.
Cronenberg does a wonderful job with the direction of the film. The choreography within each scene is well thought out – placing Sabina in a power position or studying herself in a mirror. Peter Suschitzky’s natural and organic cinematography adds to the authentic feel of the recreated time period. Howard Shore’s musical score provides another layer of gorgeous luminosity.
With all the craftsmanship that’s gone into A DANGEROUS METHOD, I had been hoping for a film that would truly be a little more dangerous than what this turned out to be.
A DANGEROUS METHOD opens in New York and Los Angeles on November 23.
