Performances
Make and Break A Dangerous Method
By
Kristin Battestella
I
was quite keen to see director David Cronenberg’s 2011 psychoanalysis opus
starring Viggo Mortensen as Sigmund Freud and Michael Fassbender as Carl
Jung. Unfortunately, the all-star cast
of A Dangerous Method both helps and
hinders the period psychology panache here.
Disturbed
patient Sabina Spielrein (Keira Knightly) is brought to Burgholzli Hospital
under Dr. Carl Jung’s (Michael Fassbender) ‘talking cure’ treatment. As Jung discusses his theories on psychology
with his wife Emma (Sarah Gabon), Sabina improves enough to help him in his
studies- for she wishes to become a doctor herself. Jung corresponds with and eventually meets
Dr. Sigmund Freud (Viggo Mortensen) who also encourages Jung to both treat and
learn from the committed Dr. Otto Gross (Vincent Cassel). The radical Gross
opens Jung up to new possibilities in philosophy and patient care, and the
growing attractions between Jung and Sabina will have long-term affects on both
their personal lives and the future of psychoanalysis.
Cronenberg
(Shivers, The Fly, Spider) jumps
right into the mental juiciness with lots of dialogue stemming from writer Christopher
Hampton’s (Dangerous Liaisons, Atonement)
The Talking Cure play, which is
itself based upon John Kerr’s A Dangerous
Method book. This focus on conversation may seem disinteresting, but the
speech and banter is quick and well paced.
A lot is said in the frank conversation on top and unsaid in the hidden
subtext beneath, too. The photography matches this inward out examination as
well, with intimate filming, full and tight close ups, and quick editing. We
don’t have much time to stop or get bored in the stream of consciousness in media res flow. Although some of the
split screen visuals are slightly imperfect- lens blurs linger in the
background when alternating focus- it is critical to the players and the plot
to see both doctor and patient in one camera shot as the ‘talking cure’ takes
place. I can see why some audiences
might find purely dialogue based storytelling unusual, old-fashioned, or slow.
However, I don’t see the hindrance in A
Dangerous Method. The fast moving
debates, saucy conversations, and action within the frame via the players,
camera cuts, and steady zooms perhaps move too
fast in some frames. Onscreen times and places appear sporadically, and years
seem to pass from scene to scene- Sabina’s treatment and Jung’s correspondences
with Freud appear to happen overnight. Intercutting pregnancies pass and children and
grow up in minutes, and these time changes may certainly be confusing on the
first viewing.
Of
course, all this mature, naughty talk is meant for a comfortable and intelligent
audience, so I’m not surprised A
Dangerous Method didn’t fair well in stateside cinemas or awards voting. This unfortunately
creates an uphill battle for the film. We know where its players are going; even
if the viewer follows the ‘journey not the destination’ design, it’s still
somewhat obvious in the approach. For such a heavy subject matter- doctors on
the fringe of science building the foundation of minds based on dreams and sex
with patients!- A Dangerous Method should
have been darker somehow. Step it up, raise the ante. Instead, the ninety-minute picture feels too
short and lightweight, merely a quick gander into these people’s lives. These
are critical moments for all the characters involved, but it isn’t really
entertaining to watch relationships fall apart. Honestly, it becomes kind of
dry. After all, we only have four people going round and round- things will get
either hairy or dull, and A Dangerous
Method seems to take the easy way out. This is a damn decent case study,
yes, with more going on then can be found in one viewing. Spiritual
comparisons, religion, medical ideologies, id, ego, mind versus self, battles
of the sexes, marital life- perhaps it is all too involved and complicated for this precious generic 18 to 34
demographic. Yet A Dangerous Method feels
too watered down in an attempt to chase this basic audience when it could have
been bigger, better, and completely worthy of itself.
Sure,
the too tame or talks too much styles may not work for all viewers, but the
major problem with A Dangerous Method is
unfortunately it’s would be female star Keira Knightly. I confess I’m already
not so beholden of Knightly (Atonement,
Pride and Prejudice), and she is very annoying to start here. Whether it
was her design or Cronenberg encouraged it, that jaw thing is too dang weird!
Rather than gaining sympathy for the abused and sick Sabina, the over the top
ticks take the audience completely out of the picture. One wonders if Knightly can just do that jut
jaw any old time or if she discovered her face can do wacky things only
recently. Her accent wavers, yes, but
the voice is not nearly as distracting as the contortionist introduction. Forgive me, but I couldn’t help but think,
“Dr. Jung becomes attracted to this?” Why does Sabina only flip out when Jung isn’t
around anyway? Sabina seems too childish early on, but Knightly does improve
once she has something more constructive to do. Again, you expect more complexity, energy,
abandonment even. For such sexual
topics, I find it weird there’s essentially no nudity from Knightly. It is as
if she’s going out of her way to keep it clean rather than be willing to throw
her whole self into the character without reservations. There are two nip slips for fans, but there
isn’t any scandal or achievement to put the viewer on Sabina’s side. She starts
dirty and unkempt, slowly graduating into Edwardian grace and sophisticated
debates, but this isn’t Knightly’s best.
She never fully embraces Sabina and makes it tough to root for her. So,
there’s nothing wrong with a doctor/patient affair? But writing exposing blackmail letters is
okay? Sabina comes off as a scorned jealous
bitch- yet she initiated the naughty offerings and comes to Jung later with her
dissertation. Knightly’s scenes go round about Freud and Jung’s debates, and it
leaves the audience wondering what the point of it all was. Were there any answers? In the end, did anything so life shattering
happen? The flipside is that this is life. We divide, rectify. It’s dirty, messy, conflicted with imperfect
people and no easy answers. I don’t mean
to be so harsh, but Knightly is definitely off the mark and her scenes make A Dangerous Method un-entertaining
enough to change the channel. Saying ‘Fraulein Spielrein,’ however, is very bemusing!
Fortunately,
the male cast makes A Dangerous Method worthwhile.
Michael Fassbender (Shame, X-Men: First Class, Prometheus) presents a cool voice with great
German touches and international style for Carl Jung. It’s a nice mix of old fashioned proper- the
accent seems strict and buttoned up despite the casual and pleasant psychologist’s
demeanor. Of course, the boundaries between doctor and patient become a little too casual for currently hot stuff
Fassbender, but the quaint glasses and tight mustache transform him from it boy
status to an old last century intellectual. Fassbender hasn’t made many contemporary-set
pictures, probably because he is one of a very talented few today who don’t just
look like a modern actor pretending to be old school. He physically seeps into being Jung seamlessly
with a cane, hat, and finite mannerisms.
Unlike Knightly- who in comparison seems a tame,
non-entity- it is very easy to buy into Fassbender’s young, friendly
doctor. Perhaps Jung doesn’t know what he’s doing to start- he loves to eat and
talk about sex. He’s pent up no doubt,
even small and dorky complete with a milk mustache! However, Jung is charming, bemusing,
and there is an idea, a mission and passion he must explore. More and more weighs upon his mind, body, and
soul, and Jung becomes very serious as the picture unfolds. Ironically, these
conflicts open him up more to the taboo experiences. We know there is something
nasty going on even when A Dangerous
Method keeps up the Edwardian behind closed doors sensibilities, and
Fassbender is damn good in this within/without portrayal of Jung. Placed in
tandem with his other recent performances as the brooding Rochester in Jane Eyre, the powerful young Magneto,
and of course an extreme and exposed sex addict in Shame, and one further sees how well Fassbender plays the tables
turned restraint. The glasses come off, Jung makes mistakes, he denies, admits,
lives.
Viggo
Mortenson (Lord of the Rings, A History
of Violence and Eastern Promises with
Cronenberg) is of course classic and witty wonderful. Freud’s cigar, the posture and dialect- Mortensen looks obviously
Viggo whilst also being perfectly in character as Freud. There’s something
transparent yet wise; Freud almost sees through Jung from the start, and hints
of resentment over Jung’s married wealth and social and religious positions add
unspoken dimension. The stuffed up debates between the doctors are the
highlight of the picture- great verbal smack downs carrying psychological
weight delivered with an effortless post-Victorian strike on the cheek or drop
of the glove. Angry letters are a
‘violent break’ to these people! Thanks to Knightly’s not coming to play, the
Freud versus Jung element here is far more interesting than Sabina’s story.
Finding the balance between self and ideas, the father figures building up and
giving way to sons, those sons breaking away against authority- these intriguing
larger debates hinted upon by Freud are never fully explored in A Dangerous Method at the expense of the
pseudo love triangle with Sabina. However, I would love, love to see Viggo in a
picture dedicated entirely to him as Freud. His too brief, underutilized angel on Jung’s
shoulder is the perfect support to Vincent Cassel’s devil as Otto Gross. I want
to say Cassel (Black Swan) is a riot as the scandalous free loving doctor! Gross
is dressed down for the period, almost a city bum in comparison to the
sophisticated style of others onscreen. It
would be visually obvious except for Cassel’s
lovely, unapologetic embodiment of such of the time radical and wild notions.
Oh, the shock of people who regularly discuss sex and talk of mistresses! Gross is supposed to be disturbed and himself
institutionalized, but he gives Jung the educational push he needs to pursue
his ideas. Again, another fine
supporting player shortchanged in A
Dangerous Method.
Where
disappoint in Knightly can create a detrimental viewing experience, Sara Gadon (Cosmopolis) is pleasantly surprising as Emma
Jung. The rich and often pregnant wife of our conflicted doctor is pleasing and
classy, a proper warm and supportive old-fashioned lady who stands in for the
would-be rigid societal yoke entrapping Jung. It isn’t a thankless or
completely ‘stand by your man’ role, however. Gadon handles the performance
well, but the marriage is meant to be forced, old school, strained, distant and
one sided. Thanks to the honestly and
somewhat overlooked focus for Emma, it’s easy to like her and feel for this
woman who is obviously not a priority to her husband. The poor thing spends most of A Dangerous Method faux- pregnant yet
still looks gloriously done up in the finest early 20th century hats
and white lace. Again, it is a little too symbolic of her purity, goodness, and
high collar stoic wealth. But it’s visually smashing fashion and we need to see
these Freudian representations and choices. Emma’s one scene with Sabina is also
onscreen awkward perfection. Mrs. Jung is quiet and classy while Sabina still
comes off as unstable and intrusive. Is one stifling and the other freeing? One
maternal and submissive, the other masculine and dominant? With the one sided
focus on Sabina and only one reference to Jung’s long time mistress Toni Wolff,
these female gives and takes are never fully explored.
Even
when the saucy talk would have viewers think A Dangerous Method exposes the naughty of a such a pretty time, the
look and style is too lovely! Again, the costumes handle a lot of the symbolism
needed for the players, but that visual dimension does so much. The music is
also wonderful, both contemporary edgy scoring from Howard Shore
and the onscreen Wagner allusions and Siegfried
references. The blend and inspiration of the two is internally foreboding yet
done in pleasant of the time arrangements.
And of course, the fun phonographs, turn of the century accessories, and
scientific gizmos create a sweet attention to detail- the carriages, cars,
canes, hats, spats! Old World Austria locations are also divine, with lovely
architecture and great boating and water scenery. I must also say the pretty penmanship and
letter writing campaigns are also so classy.
Good cursive is a foreign language to youth today! Though the rental blu-ray is filled with
commercials and preview crap as always, the photography looks delightful. The
disc skipped a few times, too, and the older design black blocked subtitles
were a bit weird, but the menus were quite easy to navigate. It seems it should
go without saying that an interface actually works, but the old-fashioned
scrolling simplicity does much compared to all the BD Live mumbo jumbo access
most discs have these days. The commentary and half hour AFI Master Seminar
with Cronenberg were very deep and involved, but the behind the scenes videos
seemed too quick for the topics at hand. Biographies or Freudian versus Jungian
debate and analysis panels might have been nice.
Of
course, there are a few juicy scenes in A
Dangerous Method, naturally, and one particularly good naughty from Cassel definitely places this one in the ‘not for kids’
category. However, for all the repeated bumping and grinding trailer and highly
publicized spanking themes between Knightly and Fassbender, A Dangerous Method is actually fairly subdued
and mostly fully clothed. What you see in the trailer is pretty much what you
get. It might have been easy to take the sex romp, tawdry melodrama road, but the
witty touches of Cronenberg’s dry humor keep this film more high brow. Indeed, A Dangerous Method is simply a saucy
play onscreen, and strangely, I find it quite pleasing just to listen to
it. All this deep dream and sex talk and
yet the elegant voice and style feels like a mellow Sunday afternoon stroll! Some
audiences may definitely find fault with the dialogue based performances or uneven
character pace and focus, yes. Fans of
Cronenberg’s more creepy work and horror films might be reluctant in watching A Dangerous Method, understandably.
However, his cerebral panache is here for smart, mature viewers and
psychologists or older students of Freud and Jung. Fans of the cast can dive in as well with history buffs or period
piece lovers, too. So long as you aren’t too
prudish over the sexual subtext and allow room for a few performance faults, A Dangerous Method is an intriguing
little film conversation.
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