Having just visited Freud's house in London only last week, it was lovely seeing his office and chair - I noticed the way Mortensen sat on it was correct - and as a graduate of psychology, this was a no-brainer to watch. I enjoyed it. It was less dark than I was expecting, more about the affair Jung had with his patient than actual psychoanalysis but it did highlight some interesting arguments in the field. It didn't really show Freudian and Jungian method in a great light, if all a novice had to go on was this film! Well acted by the principals Fassbender, Mortensen and Knightley although I do find Knightley's style of acting somewhat annoying generally. That said she had done her homework, and I found her depiction of the patient rather good - much has been made of her jutting jaw but I believe overt uncontrolled physical displays like that are common. Her accent didn't seem that bad to me - it wasn't overdone. I found this one of the best films I've seen her in and I felt that she was rather brave to take on such an emotionally laid bare role and she did with a great deal of commitment and success. Mortensen, I am more familiar in scenes running around with an elf, a dwarf and a hobbit, but he showed his prowess in this; I'm more familiar with Freud than Jung in terms of mannerisms, so felt he was pretty good he'd obviously studied the film archives and was made to look fairly similar. Fassbender was very measured and engaging as Jung and I really enjoyed his journey in the film and was divided on his choices. Cronenberg is a great director and this was a good example of his work; carefully researched and created scenes and vistas, script and score all worked well together. Other than one or two dubbing issues, and overly long time jumps, and a few gaps in narrative (for me) it was excellent. Excellent. Beautiful costumes. I liked the scenes in Freud's office with his couch (having seen it now in person) and I liked the reference to Egyptology that was thrown in, a pet subject of Freud.
Review of A Dangerous Method
