Two compelling, influential figures, one great director. The stars were aligned when Christopher Hampton’s A Dangerous Method fell into the lap of David Cronenberg. Adapting both his own play, The Talking Cure’ and John Kerr’s book, ‘A Most Dangerous Method’, Hampton set about creating a portrait of Carl Jung (Michael Fassbender) via his ill-fated relationship with Sigmund Freud (Viggo Mortensen) and the female patient, Sabine Spielrein (Keira Knightley), who became the key to opening up the possibilities of psychoanalytical thought. Opening in the first decade of the 20th century, the film dovetails Jung’s own work with his first contact with the pre-eminent psychological theorist of his time.
Jung is a staunch admirer of Freud’s theories and their first meeting produces round after round of stimulating discussions in which hours stretch merrily into days. For a long time Jung’s view of the benefits of psychoanalysis remain aligned with those of the older man, but fatefully a break occurs when the emphases of Jung’s treatment, mostly of Spielrein, take him in other directions. This led to an acrimonious split that would haunt both men for the rest of their lives.
There’s a perfection about the way in which Fassbender and Mortenson embody these giants of their field. Whilst Mortensen provides the older man with gravitas, Fassbender accentuates the intense scrutiny of Jung by imparting a frightening believability. This impression becomes even more effective as, in later years, Jung becomes haunted by his work, lingering memories of Sabina, the split with Freud and the profound depression presaged by visions of the World War to come that would obstruct his creativity for a time.
Keira Knightley is the film’s real surprise packet. Her early scenes create a misleading impression; they lean heavily towards the overwrought but, in time, as her raft of neuroses become more definable and thus, treatable, under Jung’s deft, insistent probing, the subtleties of her performance become far more apparent.
Perhaps Vincent Cassel is the only slightly weak link as Otto Gross, the troubled therapist referred to Jung as a potential patient by Freud. His character’s overly sexualised slant acts as a conduit by which Jung is enabled to broaden the sphere of his thinking and alter the direction of his later theories much to the chagrin of Freud.
The film’s fascinating almost clinical approach thankfully doesn’t exclude a resonant emotional element to colour the deeper turmoils of its characters. In fact Hampton’s screenplay is very adept at interweaving Jung’s expanding domestic commitments with a burgeoning comprehension of his chosen field and the broader avenues opened up by both Sabina’s complex condition and Freud’s theories. Perhaps his priorities become somewhat lopsided as Sabina consumes more of his conscious and subconscious desires but his marriage, though hindered, never grounds to a halt.
The re-creation of time and place is flawless; the use of real locations from the time only adds further weight to the film’s credibility. Regular composer Howard Shore’s provides typically strong music, tinged here with an austere classicism that very effectively keeps any sentimentality at bay.
A Dangerous Method (2011) is one of the finest accomplishments of Cronenberg’s long and varied career, a mature, complex, deeply insightful examination of two of last century’s most influential thinkers. Aided by a trio of stunning performances, this feels like an exhilarating crescendo for the great director in the wake of brilliant recent films A History of Violence (2005) and Eastern Promises (2007); everything to follow will be icing on the cake.
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