A Dangerous Method
Starring: Michael Fassbender, Keira Knightly, Viggo Mortensen
Director: David Cronenberg
Rating: 2/5
Most directors like to pick a genre and stick to it. Michael Bay will always have things explode, Wes Anderson will always be whimsical and George Romero will always love zombies a little too much.
Not David Cronenberg. After a history shocking audiences with his 'body horror' films, Cronenberg's swiftly moved on to the world of drama, with the fantastic History of Violence and Eastern Promises to his name. Now, he gives plans on giving us the birth of psychology.
Here we follow the exploits of Carl Jung (Michael Fassbender), a young psychologist on the cutting edge of treating patients with words alone. Here he must treat Sabine (Keira Knightly), a young women from the highest of backgrounds with enormous mental anguish.
Her amazing recovery leads Jung to contact the famous Sigmund Freud (Viggo Mortensen).
The two then strike up a fine friendship and we follow their exploits in turn of the century Switzerland and Jung's blossoming relationship with the now cured Sabine.
But while a biopic about the beginnings of psychotherapy as we know it should have been engrossing from such an established director, A Dangerous Method fails to meet expectations.
Feeling both dull and hurried, A Dangerous Method sadly just plods along between plot points without any real motivation.
This isn't helped by the story at the heart of film just not being that dramatic. Despite the initially intriguing premise, the film never gets deep enough with either the characters or the subject matter to force anything
While the performances by all involved is more than adequate, even though Keira Knightly is acting with a capital 'a', all three stars are held back by a horribly rigid script and some real pacing problems.
Unfortunately, A Dangerous Method never rises above its stage origins and, despite excellent credentials , just as feels as stiff and unmoving as Fassbender's rigidly gelled hair.
A Dangerous Method is out now.
FemaleFirst Cameron Smith