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Viggo Mortensen as Sigmund Freud. Photo by Liam Daniel. Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics. All rights reserved.

A Dangerous Method (2011)

Opened: 11/23/2011 Limited

Trailer: Click for trailer

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Genre: Historical Drama

Rated: R for sexual content and brief language.

About the Film

On the eve of World War I, Zurich and Vienna are the setting for a dark tale of sexual and intellectual discovery. Drawn from true-life events, A Dangerous Method takes a glimpse into the turbulent relationships between fledgling psychiatrist Carl Jung, his mentor Sigmund Freud and Sabina Spielrein, the troubled but beautiful young woman who comes between them. Into the mix comes Otto Gross, a debauched patient who is determined to push the boundaries.

In this exploration of sensuality, ambition and deceit set the scene for the pivotal moment when Jung, Freud and Sabina come together and split apart, forever changing the face of modern thought.

A Dangerous Method was directed by David Cronenberg (Eastern Promises, A History of Violence, Crash) from a screenplay by Academy Award® winning writer Christopher Hampton (Atonement, Dangerous Liaisons), who adapted his own stage play The Talking Cure for the screen.

Academy Award® nominee Keira Knightley (Never Let Me Go, Atonement, Pride and Prejudice) stars as Sabina Spielrein opposite fast-rising star Michael Fassbender (Inglourious Basterds, Fish Tank, Hunger, Jane Eyre, X-Men: First Class and the upcoming Prometheus) as Carl Jung, with Academy Award® nominee Viggo Mortensen (Eastern Promises, A History of Violence, Lord of the Rings trilogy) as Sigmund Freud. Vincent Cassel (Black Swan, Mesrine) plays Otto Gross, and Canadian newcomer Sarah Gadon plays Jung's wife Emma.

A Dangerous Method reunites Cronenberg with Academy Award® winning producer Jeremy Thomas following their partnership on Crash and Naked Lunch. The film also brings together Cronenberg's creative team, with whom he has a long history of collaboration on such titles as A History of Violence, Eastern Promises and eXistenZ. This includes the three-time Academy Award® winning composer Howard Shore (The Lord of the Rings trilogy), director of photography Peter Suschitzky (Star Wars: Episode V), production designer James McAteer, costume designer Denise Cronenberg (The Incredible Hulk), Academy Award® winning hair and make-up designer Stephan Dupuis (The Fly) and editor Ronald Sanders (Coraline).

Synopsis

On the eve of World War I, the vibrant cities of Zurich and Vienna are the setting for a dark tale of sexual and intellectual discovery.

Zurich, 1904. 29-year-old psychiatrist Carl Jung (Michael Fassbender) is at the beginning of his career, and lives with his pregnant wife Emma (Sarah Gadon) at Burgholzli hospital. Inspired by Sigmund Freud's (Viggo Mortensen) work, Jung tries Freud's experimental treatment known as psychoanalysis, or 'the talking cure,' on 18-year-old Sabina Spielrein (Keira Knightley).

Sabina is a well-educated Russian who speaks fluent German, has been diagnosed with hysteria, and is known to be disruptive and violent. In talks with Jung, she reveals a childhood marred by humiliation and beatings from her authoritarian father. The psychoanalysis uncovers a disturbing sexual element to her dysfunction, which upholds Freud's theories connecting sexuality and emotional disorders.

Through his correspondence on Sabina's case, Jung forges a friendship with Freud, and their first meeting is a marathon affair. Relationships deepen between Jung and Freud, who sees Jung as his intellectual heir, and between Jung and Sabina, who is brilliant despite her ailment. Her treatment is successful, and Sabina pursues a career as a psychiatrist with Jung's encouragement.

Freud asks Jung to treat a fellow psychiatrist, Otto Gross, whom he describes as a committed immoralist and drug addict. Jung is intrigued by Gross's defiant and clever arguments against monogamy. After being influenced by Gross, Jung pushes aside his own ethics and gives in to his feelings for Sabina. They enter into a sexual tryst, violating the doctor/patient relationship.

Freud and Jung begin to grow apart due to their clashing ideologies. Jung protests Freud's rigid adherence to his theories about sex, and Jung's growing interest in mysticism further threatens their alliance. They travel to America together, which Jung sees as a great opportunity, whereas Freud has misgivings.

Tortured by guilt, along with the responsibility he feels to his profession, Jung breaks it off with Sabina. Sabina attacks Jung in his office, cutting his cheek before fleeing to Geneva to become Freud's patient. Jung loses integrity in Freud's eyes by denying the affair in a letter, a desperate attempt to keep his professional standing. This subterfuge also damages Sabina's credibility. She and Jung later reach an understanding after sleeping together one last time. This time it is Sabina who decides she needs her freedom.

As he parts ways with Jung, Freud faces his own mortality. He sees Sabina's potential as a therapist, and gives her some of his own clients. As Sabina establishes herself professionally, her attachment to Jung wanes.

We end in 1913, as a married and pregnant Sabina visits Jung to find that his marriage has survived, and that he has a new mistress. With World War I approaching, Jung has changed from the optimistic young man we first met. He has learnt much but in doing so has damaged those people close to him, and in the process has become damaged himself. Sabina and Jung reach a bittersweet closure.

Jung, Freud and Spielrein: True Life Events

A Dangerous Method portrays the true life events of a decade long relationship between three pioneers of modern thought and founders of psychoanalysis: Carl Jung, Sigmund Freud, and Sabina Spielrein. Through the discovery of Spielrein's diaries and correspondence with Freud and Jung, the film is able to reveal somewhat unknown aspects of these individuals' lives. Justice is accomplished in the meticulous care paid not only to the behaviors and intricacies of each character, but also to the individual and cultural views of human behavior as the pioneers explored varying thoughts about how to interpret these behaviors.

The accuracy of the film's portrayal was enhanced not only by filming on location in Vienna at both the Burgholzli Hospital and Freud's home, but also through the use of dialogue taken directly from the correspondence between Jung, Frued and Spielrein. Additionally, it is interesting to note that even the distinct images that explore the behaviors of a young, afflicted Spielrein are direct interpretations of the hospital records which note that the 'patient laughs and cries in a strangely mixed, compulsive manner. Masses of tics; she rotates her head jerkily, sticks out her tongue, twitches her legs... Cannot stand people or noise.'

When Spielrein arrived at Burgholzli Hospital at the age of eighteen, she had been very protected from sexuality and sexual information. She was assigned to Dr. Jung, the newly qualified doctor, as his first patient and records indicate that he diagnosed her as 'hysteric'. Jung decides to attempt a new technique on Spielrein, one he had read about in a book by a Viennese neurologist, Sigmund Freud. The technique is psychoanalysis, later dubbed the 'talking cure' -- the dangerous method that inspired the film's title. The audience quickly learns of Spielrein's history of physical abuse and complex dysfunctional family relationships as well as her association between pain, love, and ultimately pain providing her sexual gratification. This intimate style of therapy is "dangerous" in that you are unsure of what it may uncover and can lead to blurred boundaries between patient and doctor. This proved to be the case for Jung and Spielrein; however, it also proved to be a powerful healing process demonstrated by the fact that Spielrein's behavior and mental clarity greatly improved in just a year.

Throughout this difficult and challenging case, Jung looked to Freud for advice and input, thus marking the commencement of the historic six year partnership between the two men where they challenged, debated, and explored many concepts in the search for an answer to the question of what was the basic driving force behind human behavior and what led to episodes of mental illness.

Following Spielrein's treatment, Jung continued an intellectual relationship with Spielrein, as she began studying to become a psychoanalyst herself. At the same time, Jung began treating a new patient, fellow psychologist Otto Gross (played by Vincent Cassel) at the request of Freud. Gross, who strongly believed in not repressing any desire, lived a life of excess and indulged in all things forbidden by society. Gross' influence transformed Jung and Spielrein's intellectual relationship into a sexual interlude as Jung was looking for validation and approval to act on a desire he knew to be against his better judgment. However, this indulgence in a sexual relationship with Spielrein proved to be even more powerful and healing for her; normalizing her "taboo" desires to experience pain via spankings and other submissive behaviors strengthened her mental health while the transgression may have weakened Jung's.

The film explores their relationships from Spielrein's entry to the hospital in 1904 until the dissolving of the intricate partnership of Freud and Jung in 1912. Though Freud may be more of a celebrity, the film is clearly from Jung's perspective, exploring his thoughts, beliefs, and challenges when faced with making decisions such as succumbing to his sexual desires towards a patient, Spielrein, as well as going against the rigid ideas of his mentor, Freud. Jung had been a long admirer of Freud's prior to their first meeting in Vienna in 1907 where they engaged in a thirteen hour long conversation. This initial meeting of such great minds marked Freud's discovery of his heir. But had never entirely accepted Freud's theory. Their relationship began to cool in 1909, during a trip to America, where they were entertaining themselves by analyzing each others' dreams when Freud seemed to show resistance to Jung's efforts and said that they would have to stop because he was afraid he would lose his authority! Jung was insulted, and the relationship was never the same. Jung and Freud met face to face for the last time in 1913 for the International Psychoanalytical Congress in Munich, Germany. Jung gave a talk on psychological types, the introverted and the extroverted type, in analytical psychology. This constituted the introduction of some of the key concepts which came to distinguish Jung's work from Freud's in the next half century.

Jung is noted for his work on self-actualization, understanding the human psyche, and his theories on personality. These concepts have become part of common language; for instance, introverted, extraverted, and having a sense of self are all Jungian terms. Freud is most known for the concepts of id, ego, and superego. Both Jung and Freud looked at the connection between the conscious and unconscious mind, but ultimately differed on theories of how they connected. Additionally, though Spielrein is not often referenced in the history of the development of psychoanalysis, her theory of the sexual drive as being both an instinct of destruction and an instinct of transformation preceded both Freud's "death drive" and Jung's views on "transformation." This illustrates how she inspired both men's most creative ideas. Spielrein also brought psychoanalysis to Russia and is associated with works of renowned child development theorist Jean Piaget, prior to being executed with her two daughters in the Holocaust. Each was brilliant in their own right, but their relationships with each other expanded their creativity to remain inquisitive in a common drive to understand themselves as well as the behaviors of others.