2011. Dir: David Cronenberg. Starring: Michael Fassbender, Keira Knightley, Viggo Mortensen, Vincent Cassel and Sarah Gadon. ●●●○○
Right now I'm resisting a terrible urge, you could almost say I'm repressing a desire to sneak out a dreadful pun. I want to avoid bringing up the title of Christopher Hampton's play on which this psychoanalysis themed movie is based. Oh, but that urge is so strong. Why should I stifle my emotional needs, why should I risk damaging my id by holding back it's darkest aims, back in 2002 Hampton wrote a play about the shifting relationships between Carl Jung, Sigmund Freud and Sabina Spielrein and he called it after the method they developed on their patients "The Talking Cure". So with a flourish I have to dub David Cronenberg's A Dengerous Method the "talky cure".
We open with Keira Knightley's Spielrein, a Russian Jew with pronounced hysteria, transported to the sparse mental health hospital in part run by the emphatically repressed Jung (Fassbender continuing his impressive run of star-making performances). In a series of short scenes we investigate the background to Spielrein's neurosis, with Jung coaxing out her emotional turmoil through a programme of one to one sessions. Knightley's performance has been the subject of huge debate both for and against her severe, jaw-clenching work in these early scenes. Personally I can't speak for the veracity of her work, but when contrasted and taken with the delicate almost blank work from Fassbender, the two of them make a compelling duo. As we see the methodology and results of Jung's technique the film both draws the audience in and shocks with the disturbing sexual fantasies plaguing Spielrein's past.
It isn't long though before the films derails, highlighting it's stage origins we then follow multiple duologues between the two main characters, Viggo Mortensen as the paranoid, pompous Sigmund Freud, anarchist and anti-psychiatrist Otto Gross (Cassel) and Jung's unfortunate slightly dull wife played by a winsome Sarah Gadon (who you might, but probably won't, remember from Dream House last year).
The most important relationships that develop are the father(figure)-son pairing between Freud and Jung, focussing on the similarities in their approach until their mutually exclusive theories concerning the future of psychoanalysis irrevocably splitting the two minds. We also see the coupling between Jung and Spielrein escalate into sado-masochistic physical and emotional relationship with Jung taking up the crop from Sabina's foreboding father.
That said whilst all of these individual scenes see some excellent performances and insightful dialogue regarding the competing ideas of the main players that is very much all they are. Each scene trips along giving another opportunity for two thesps to face off but without any of it really adding up to anything. They slow down too, each scene coming more ponderously than the last. At one point the film virtually stopped whilst characters wrote to each other then read these letters on their own, utterly tedious film-making.
What's worse is the subject could be really interesting, psychoanalysis is by it's very nature imperative to our understanding of our very souls, the discussions between Jung and Freud that confront the fundamental differences in their approaches should be extreme clashes of personality, philosophically engaging, dissecting theories that tore up societal norms up to that point. Instead we have broad pronouncements of medical scepticism, cheap shots at the fringe or over-simplified elements of their divergent theories, interminable discussions about dreams and - finally - an apparently true but still totally incomprehensible discussion about Ancient Egyptian civilizations and how that reflected their own situation.
The craft work on the film is, as I'm sure you can imagine in early 20th century design, impeccable and I'd especially like to call out the functional and character driven set decoration by Gernot Thöndel (although I understand Viggo Mortensen provided all his own props and the books in Freud's study).
Ultimately this film fails, Cronenberg is unable to lift the script from it's stage origins or add any spice to the proceedings once we leave the confines of Sabina's cure. I can recommend it only for the performances or - if you're a fan of Keira - the first 30 minutes.
Thursday, 23 February 2012
A Dangerous Method
Saturday, 11 February 2012
Tell me about your Mother (Out this week - 10/02/12)
At first it seems like a quiet week with only 7 new features released into cinemas. But of course my methodology is deliberately focussed so I miss the 3D re-release of George Lucas's return to the Star Wars universe and the non 3D release of Casablanca. I suppose I should consider the later for film of the week, and it would certainly give the ultimate winner a run for it's money but I don't want to go breaking the rules as it might reveal areas of my subconscious I'd rather keep hidden. Of course film of the week is David Cronenberg's Freud-Jung-Spielrein intellectual triangle A Dangerous Method.
Of course The Phantom Menace is also tickling the top of the box office charts and with an extra day of release it might be foolish to bet against it, however I'm a fool who remembers it's half term and The Muppets has an awful lot of retro value - I would even go as far as saying more so on this side of the Atlantic than in the States - and I wouldn't be at all surprised if it takes the crown.
Oh, and I was dead right about Chronicle being last weeks biggest seller, amazingly making 26 year-old director Josh Trank the youngest director to have a box office leader in both the US and UK. 
A Dangerous Method
Second week in a row we have a stage play making the transition to film, and like Carnage the plot may in part revolve around the difference between morality and desire. Michael Fassbender continues his extraordinary run of performances as Carl Jung with Keira Knightley, Viggo Mortensen and Vincent Cassell surrounding him.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●●●●○○○
The Muppets
The gang's all back. I imagine most 30 somethings or older have a huge place in their heart for the madcap antics, big-time show tunes and silly jokes of the not-quite puppets and will go out in droves with their small kids to try and revive those memories. Kermit, Miss Piggy, Gonzo and Animal are all on board, as are Jason Segal, Amy Adams and Chris Cooper to drive the plot but an extra pleasure of the muppets is their fantastic cameos which include Alan Arkin, Whoopi Goldberg, Judd Hirsch and Mickey Rooney.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●●●○○○○
Woman in Black
Daniel Radcliffe, him off Harry Potter with the glasses and the scar, you'd probably recognise the guy, has to sell off an abandoned house in deepest Devon. Only it's not completed abandoned as there's a sinister spirit at work trying to rip Radcliffe's mind apart in this Hammer gothic horror. Janet McTeer and Ciaran Hinds co-star.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●●●○○○○
The Vow
If you in the mood for a non-challenging romantic drama about a couple falling in love for the second time following a car crash and bout of amnesia then this could be exactly the movie for you. Rachel McAdams is the girl forgetting her hubby with Channing Tatum either shirtless or wearing chunky knitwear to bring back those hidden memories and Jessica Lange returns in a key supporting role.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●○○○○○○
Casanovva
Not necessarily what you would expect from the title of this Mayalaman entry. The synopsis states it's about an international businessman and playboy getting revenge on his girlfriends murderers through a reality TV show. WTF?
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu
Bollywood comedy set in Vegas (I know) slightly influenced by What Happens in Vegas as mismatched couple Imran Khan and Kareena Kapoor wake up hungover and married and must learn to love each other. Sweet.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
Big Miracle
Finally we have the boring looking family friendly based on a true story tosh about whales trapped under the ice and the massive rescue effort involved fishermen, the army and large groups of volunteers. I expect it's not as bad as I think, but I can't pretend it's the sort of film I want to see.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●○○○○○○○○
Thursday, 20 October 2011
Viggo Mortensen
Happy Birthday to
Viggo Mortensen
53 today
Viggo's been getting the lion's share of praise from the festival circuit tour of A Dangerous Method, with his performance as Sigmund Freud, the third consecutive collaboration with director David Cronenberg, being called fantastic and inspirational casting. I'm also looking forward to see him in the supporting ensemble of Jack Kerouac adaptation On the Road but with the buzz of that disappearing and the film being quietly delayed into 2012 I am beginning to doubt it's quality.
Saturday, 26 March 2011
Keira Knightley
Happy Birthday to
Keira Knightley
26 today
I don't really understand why so many people I come into contact with seem to dislike Keira with such a passion. They seem to hate her entire persona and back catalogue. Personally I'm a bit of a fan. She's suitably sassy in Pirates of the Caribbean, gorgeous in Atonement and you can't argue with the quality of the performance in Bend it like Beckham. Maybe she'll show a new side that'll win some support in A Dangerous Method.
Friday, 21 January 2011
20 for 2011: 8 - A Dangerous Method
No need to analyse why A Dangerous Method is in at number 8.
David Cronenberg reteams with Viggo Mortensen for the third consecutive film only this time we're in a period setting and there's likely to be less little Viggo than we saw in Eastern Promises. Or will there?
Based on Christopher Hampton (Dangerous Liaisons) award winning play about the birth of pschoanalysis and the two schools of though posed by Sigmund Freud (Mortensen) and Carl Jung (Michael Fassbender) above. The film also dramatises the relationships the men had with patient, and later pioneer herself, Sabina Spielrein (Keira Knightley).
That's a powerhouse cast and enough reason in itself to watch the film, but with Cronenberg delving into the inner workings of the mind expect some dream sequences less coherent than Inception dared to show us.
Wednesday, 20 October 2010
Viggo Mortensen
Happy Birthday to
Viggo Mortensen
52 today
As I was choosing a picture for Viggo I was struck by how little he looks like himslef, or how little he looks like we think he looks like when he's not in the iconic Aragon role from Lord of the Rings. The talented and multi-ligual Viggo has a uniquely serene screen presence which has served him well over the years and should be a great fit for his Sigmund Freud in next years A Dangerous Method (his third collaboration with Canadian director David Cronenburg). He will also be seen in the upcoming On the Road adaptation.
