Movie Review for A Dangerous Method
Synopsis: A look at how the intense relationship between Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud gives birth to psychoanalysis.
Rating: R.
Run Time: 1 hr 39 min
Director: David Cronenberg
Blu-ray Extra’s: Audio Commentary, The Making of ‘A Dangerous Method’, AFI’s Harold Lloyd Masters Seminar with David Cronenberg.
Nudity Factor: In several scenes you see breasts. One is outside as a nurse has her top partially down, in another a patient is dunked in water and her dress is see through, the next scene is after sex you see Kiera Knightly topless in a reflection in the mirror, the final scene Knightly is being strapped as part of her cure with her top down.
Of Note: The age difference between Viggo Mortensen and Michael Fassbender is 19 years, just as it was between Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung.
Recommendations:
This is a movie that is mostly about Jung and Freud. Freud has a new method that Jung is trying out and finds success. Jung wants to take it further, and Freud disagrees. In the middle of all of this is the patient that Jung used the method on. How the treatment is both successful and problematic. When Jung and his patient end up taking things beyond the hospital, this creates challenges. Eventually, Jung’s attitude and this relationship with a patient cause things to divide between him and Freud. The rating above is completely there due to the acting in this movie. All the main characters are great. Keira Knightley is exceptional, especially early in the film. The story is one that really goes like this. A fairly long setup, a very compressed middle, and then right to the ending. The best parts of the movie are all front loaded with the setup of the characters. After that, it just starts to feel like filler until the credits roll, with a few shock you awake moments to keep the audience awake.
Overall, this film felt way longer than it it. The dialog through mail between Freud and Jung really made the movie drag on. As with most things that drag on and on, you start to lose interest.