I don’t believe in giving films a full review during a film festival, and if I ever needed a reminder for my reasoning, A DANGEROUS METHOD came along and delivered it.

The latest film by David Cronenberg is, in part, a chronicle of the relationship between Sigmund Freud (Viggo Mortensen) and Carl Jung (Michael Fassbender). The tale focuses primarily on Jung, following his family life and his complicated relationship with a patient named Sabin Spielrein (Kiera Knightley). With it all being set before WWI, the entire science we now associate with psychotherapy was still being established. As such, there is a lot of room for unforeseen difficulties to arise, and not much room for discourse from what has already been established.

The reason I say that A DANGEROUS METHOD is a film I couldn’t review right away is because (and I apologize if I’ve said this a lot lately), it wasn’t what I expected it to be. Through his last few films – SPIDER, A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE, and EASTERN PROMISES – David Cronenberg has been walking down a particular avenue. They have been tales of real human darkness that takes us on a slow journey down a river of emotional pain. I expected A DANGEROUS METHOD to follow that template, and while it does in many respects, it does so with more subtlety. Perhaps too much, but I’ll figure that out when I write about it proper.

What the film unquestionably brings, are some top shelf performances by all involved. Knightley is actually really disturbing early on as a woman trying to get a handle on her repressed psychosis. Her character has the most fully realized story and it does a lot for giving the film shape. Vincent Cassel owns every scene he is in, playing the devil on one’s shoulder with true aplomb.

Perhaps what leaves me perplexed is the way the film handles Fassbender and Mortensen. We know what both can do by now, and in the case of the latter, we especially know what Cronenberg is capable of getting from him. However, their chemistry is an odd one…as if both of them were being kept on the leash. This might well have been what David Cronenberg was going for, but I can’t shake the notion that he dropped two talented actors into the playpen but didn’t allow them to bring any toys in.

I know I didn’t dislike A DANGEROUS METHOD, that much is clear…and in keeping with my mantra, I do fully intend to watch it again. It’s a meaty movie, with a lot to consider. While I’ll likely never move past the fact that the film feels flawed, the question is whether the film succeeds despite those flaws, or falls because of them.

A DANGEROUS METHOD has finished its TIFF engagement. It will be released into theatres on November 23rd.

15 Replies to “TIFF Review: A DANGEROUS METHOD”

  1. I’m glad to hear some praise for Knightley as in the trailers for the film she looked nothing short of painful overacting. Though I am sorry to hear about Mortensen and Fassbender, both of whom I’d like to see snag a bit of good ol’ fashion Oscar love. I think with Fassbender it’s only a matter of time – just so long as he steers clear of any more Jonah Hexs.

    1. To be clear, all five of the primary actors (when we include Gadon and Cassel) are solid…it just felt, on first watch that they weren’t playing off each other the way I’d hoped they might.

      Do be sure to give it a look when it hits theatres and judge for yourself.

  2. I must agree with Univarn. Glad that Knightley was good. After all, she was my favorite actress, when I was in high school. And I also expected that Fassbender or Mortensen could get nods from the Academy. We’ll see. Thanks for the review, even not a full one.

      1. I’ve watched these two films and I actually loved them. They seem different from Cronenberg’s first works that don’t interest me at all at this point. If A Dangerous Method is executed in the similar style as History and Promises, I guess I’ll enjoy it.

  3. The trailer for this one was pretty awful, but I still kinda wanna see it. I mean, I personally don’t get the hate for Keira Knightley, but she looks good in this. Kind of a shame about what you said about Fassy and Viggo, though.
    Will you be giving this is a ‘proper’ review when you watch it again?

  4. We were talking about this movie (and that you would be seeing it at TIFF) on LAMBcast 83. I’m glad to hear praise for Keira Knightley (finally), and I still can’t wait to see it. I think I’m still bitter that I can’t go to TIFF myself.

    1. Always happy to be the topic of conversation!

      I’m not a Kiera hater, so how much she gets slammed has always perplexed me. Admittedly, her accent is spotty in this film, but I liked a lot of what she brought to the table. Looking forward to reading what you have to say about it when it opens, and hopefully you get a chance to join in on the film festival fun sometime in the future.

  5. Hey man, I have been reading these on my google reader app on my phone but haven’t been able to make sure I can comment until now. A DANGEROUS METHOD a different angle from Cronenberg? I can’t wait to see and I think in A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE, Mortenssen was pretty restrained – and, we never see him really go to town in EASTERN PROMISES. A fight sequence and some grim autopsy stuff – but I can’t recall a scene whereby Mortenssen was exceptionally upset/angry/[insert excessive emotion here] in either film.

    1. Welcome to the party sir – better late than never.

      The restraint with Viggo is a little hard to explain, and will become far more clear when you finally see the film. It certainly fits into the cannon of what Cronenberg has done recently, but he seems to want to take things in a different direction.

      Thos one is more the Fassbender show than the Viggo show. Perhaps Cronenberg has a new muse!

  6. I’ve been expecting a bit more of Mortensen than I should be apparently. Knightley seems to take up most of the blurb space in reviews.

    1. Of the three, Mortensen struck me as having the smallest part in the film (granted it’s not like I was sitting there with a stopwatch). It could also just be the way Freud is handled within the story – it’s more “The Jung Show! with Special Guest – Sigmund Freud!”

      Could also be that people have come to expect one thing from Knightley, so when she brings something different it catches people’s attention”

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