A Dangerous Method - Blu-ray Review

'By tackling this story, Cronenberg essentially forces himself to remain in control of his subtext. The Freud and Jung story is a very bawdy one indeed if you let the attractive-sounding B-movie-like activities take the focus'

If David Cronenberg was not a difficult director to like during his rise to fame in the late seventies and eighties then I would argue that he has certainly become that over the course of the last few years. Cronenberg's relatively recent output can quite fairly be defined as a selection of productions which, though they may look mainstream, all feature some level of subliminal interest, which then often seeps out over the mainstream narrative. A History of Violence fails for me because it lets its subtext become its text. Eastern Promises is much more subtle in its exploration of sexuality and other themes, hidden behind a gangster narrative. It is enriched by the material Cronenberg really wants to examine, rather than overcome by it. He might not be making things like The Brood any more, but that doesn't mean Cronenberg's material isn't still challenging, and better for it when that challenge is laced subtly into the film.

A Dangerous Method may actually be one of the better examples, certainly in recent Cronenberg, where the director has not only kept control of his subtext but chosen a text that forces him to do so. His story about Carl Jung (Michael Fassbender) and Sigmund Freud's (Viggo Mortensen) relationship, and how it was coloured by the introduction of Sabina Spielrein (Keira Knightley) to their small group, is laced with sexuality, psychoanalysis, gender roles, repression of desires and new ideas in those and other fields. By tackling this story, Cronenberg essentially forces himself to remain in control of his subtext. The Freud and Jung story is a very bawdy one indeed if you let the attractive-sounding B-movie-like activities take the focus, something even Cronenberg, with his interest and background in that genre, does not allow to happen.

Not only does Cronenberg not allow it to happen, he actually laughs at the idea of it during the course of the narrative. Showing up for treatment by Jung, Otto Gross (Vincent Cassel), who in real life became a fully fledged anarchist, invades the narrative with devilish delight. The Lucifer on Jung (and Cronenberg's) shoulder, Gross is an insubstantial riot and as such rightly only partakes in a small amount of the plot. Before he has departed he has though romanced a maid in Jung's garden, something done with both characters looking into Cronenberg's camera, as if to tell us 'this is the film you could have been watching'.

Playtime over, Cronenberg can get on with the very serious business he has convinced three very serious actors to take part in, each brilliantly. Fassbender, Mortensen and Knightley play their roles to perfection; the former unsure if he is tempted by scientific discovery or lust (are we ever sure which?), Mortensen stuffed-up as a Father of something he no longer has control over (how Freudian), Knightley abandoning her usual tempered performance in favour of something much more vicious, jutting and impressive.

The emergent picture is one which represents an emerging field perfectly through its characters and their actions. The uncertainty in Jung is matched only by the certainty of Freud, who is sure the idea has gone as far as it has only because he himself can no longer take it forwards. It is little surprise to us, though you suspect it is a big surprise to both of the main male characters, that it is actually Speilrein who takes things on during the final reel, perfectly orchestrated by Cronenberg into a position of power, relinquished by competing male ids.

By Sam Turner. Sam is editor of Film Intel, and can usually be found behind a keyboard with a cup of tea. He likes entertaining films and dislikes the other kind. He's on Google+, Twitter and several places even he doesn't yet know about.