A look at how the intense relationship between Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud gives birth to psychoanalysis.
While some audiences may struggle to warm to A Dangerous Method’s largely cerebral pleasures, those keen to delve into the darker recesses of the human mind couldn’t wish for a more capable guide than Cronenberg.
The talky emphasis may alienate, but Cronenberg’s psychoanalysis session offers wry writing, elegant direction and fine leads.
Despite a top-notch cast performing well, and bravely in the case of Knightley, this is an austere, somewhat repressed movie. It never really gets under the skin in the way Cronenberg does at his best.
Cronenberg's clinical approach turns A Dangerous Method into a handsome but cold affair, ensuring that Knightley (aided briefly by a randy Vincent Cassel) carries the sole responsibility for lighting a fire under the picture.
It’s a subtly devastating conclusion, though the film itself, while good, is not nearly as satisfying as the ones in which the director allows his instincts to run wild. Freud might have had something to say about that.
Fassbender and Mortensen convince as the competing shrinks, while Knightley initially gets the sticky end of the acting lollipop as a patient. Requires patience but rewards it too.
Cronenberg teases out the nuances of their working lives from John Kerr’s original 1993 book quite efficiently but it just feels a bit ham-fisted when engaging in the overall intellectual discourse it’s constantly driving at.
Mortensen, a charismatic lead in Cronenberg's previous two outings, A History of Violence and Eastern Promises, carries himself magnificently here, but he's stuck in a filmed play whose relentless talkiness never translates into drama.
What’s odd, for Cronenberg, is how the film can feel like an advert for buttoned-down restraint rather than danger or release. Spotlessly organised, it’s an exercise the director knows he can pull off without breaking a sweat. Are we allowed to prefer him sweaty?
Cooler and calmer than expected.
This is a cool, measured, loquacious film; even its sexual adventures are shown with a clinical detachment, and there is a droll undercurrent of black comedy.
Clever but emotionally cold, it’s not Cronenberg’s best.
Ambitious but unsatisfying.
The picture sounds more dramatic and arresting than it is. Ultimately, what we get is a lot of talk but I suppose that is appropriate.
This is a very stagy film, but Cronenberg doesn't make the most of the theatricality.
Engrossing, admirably acted.
A Dangerous Method actress Keira Knightley claims the British are 'obsessed with spanking'
David Cronenberg puts Sigmund Freud on the couch
General release. Check local listings for show times.
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