Movie Review: A Dangerous Method (2011)

A Dangerous Method is certainly an interesting film. It’s about the conflict between Carl Jung (Michael Fassbender) and Sigmund Freud (Vigo Mortensen), centering around debates on sexuality and religion, with Sabina Spielrein (Keira Knightley) caught in the middle, somewhat.

Most people talking about this movie seem to focus on Freud and Jung’s interactions with each other, and these are good scenes, but there aren’t too many. As Spielrein, Knightley is remarkable. It’s an incredibly demanding performance, with several uncompromising scenes.

Her relationship with Fassbender’s Jung is quite fascinating to watch. It’s not romantic. It’s not even sexual as we would normally think of it. The two seem to be exploring their own subconscious through this relationship — which makes sense of course, given the subject matter — and it’s a fascinating dynamic to watch.

I do like the Freud-Jung dynamic as well. The movie does a good job of interrogating Freud’s insistince that sexuality is the root of everything, while also displaying why his skepticisim against some of Jung’s ideas makes sense.

Rating: 7/10