The movie “A Dangerous Method” describes the founding father of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud, his then “crown prince” Carl Jung, their famous female patient Sabina Spielrein and the relationship between the three. It is a highly interesting movie. The script writer Christopher Hampton has pulled the trick of condensing these very interesting times on the eve of the 1st World War, when so many fantastical and eccentric persons flowed through Vienna and the salons where Freud and his pupils hung out, into five distinct characters in the movie. They play out a fascinating drama between them, uncovering dark forces and strong desires in the human mind in the process.
It is not a movie about meditation. However, the way the characters struggle to understand how the unconscious impulses affect their actions and lives is in a way similar to the meditative process, or to anybody´s struggles in life. The patriarch of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud, is described as a somewhat weak and vain man, but he is also portrayed with lots of humour and warmth. Carl Gustav Jung is seen as ambitious and forceful, trying to escape the looming shadow of Freud´s father figure. At the same time, and in spite of warnings and his own doubts, Jung utterly fails to keep the moral standards of his profession by climbing in bed with his intelligent and sexy patient. David Cronenberg´s movie can be recommended to anybody who is interested in the unconscious forces that affect us as persons and the society at large.
Thanks for the review. This seems to be a very interesting film.
Indeed, sounds like a film that should be given priority!
It must be said, however, that the way the film portrays Jung and his relationship with his patient Sabina Spielrein is open for discussion, and some historians doubt that they had a sexual relationship. She is a very interesting character, by the way, and she had a lasting influence on psychoanalytical theory, describing and pointing out for Freud the importance of thanatos, the destructive and death-wishing drives in the human being, so evident in the two world wars.
definitely seems an interesting movie, and interesting observations in your comments.