A Dangerous Method 

Tonight I finally saw A Dangerous Method. I’d been extremely excited for this movie for over a year. I’m a massive Cronenberg fan. He’s absolutely ‘top 3 directors’ material for me. I’m also a psychology student and someone who’s incredibly interested in the subject matter. Lately I’d been hearing some mixed reviews of the movie, so I decided that it’d probably be a good idea to try to calm down a bit and reign in the excitement/hype, and now I have to say that I am glad that I did…otherwise I think I would’ve walked out feeling a bit disappointed.

Overall, I would say that I liked it. There’s a lot to like, honestly. The cinematography is absolutely stunning. I can’t get over how beautiful the movie really is. I also thought that the acting was quite good. Honestly? I have never liked Keira Knightley, and going into this movie, I was disappointed that she had been cast because I think that she’s not a very good actress, but I thought that she was rather good. Some people think that she was over-the-top, but perhaps they don’t know much about hysteria… I think that she did a good job. I also had never really seen Michael Fassbender in much of anything before, and I thought that he made a good Jung. Viggo Mortensen and Vincent Cassel were quite good in their unfortunately limited roles. 

However…I can’t help but feel like it was sadly kind of a shallow movie. I feel like it only just scraped the tip of the iceberg of everything involved (the actual historical figures, psychology/psychiatry of the time, etc.). I also really would’ve liked to have seen more of Freud. The editing and/or pacing also seemed weird to me, but maybe I’m being picky. Lastly, I’m still trying to work out how I feel about the ending. The last shot (pictured above) was quite good, but the placement of the ending just felt kind of…abrupt.

The movie is extremely Cronenberg-esque. I mean, it deals with the same themes he’s been exploring ever since he first started filmmaking. However, where it differs is in its execution: it’s extremely polished. I personally tend to prefer his grittier, more bizarre films. Oh well. Anyway, I have to say that, despite sounding a bit critical, I did like it. I just don’t love it. I am quite interested in seeing it again so I can hopefully work out how I feel about the ending.