A Dangerous Method (Blu-Ray/DVD Combo) / Une méthode dangereuse (Blu-ray/DVD Combo) (Bilingual)

This film is a kind of triple biopic, recreating a crucial period in the lives of psychoanalytic pioneers Freud, Jung and Sabina Spielrein in a manner that shows great respect for historical accuracy. But the interplay between the three, as played by Mortenson, Fassbender and Knightley, is so riveting that it comes across as a subtle and moving psychological masterpiece, not a museum piece.

I came to it having read a bit of Freud and a bit more of Jung, and was vaguely acquainted with their points of disagreement, but i was completely unprepared for the revelation of how their respective theories were shaped by their relationships, especially by Jung's relationship with Spielrein. Christopher Hampton's concise script and Cronenberg's impeccable direction create a vivid space in which the three leads, along with Sarah Gadon as Jung's wife and Vincent Cassel as Otto Gross, become living personalities grappling with challenges that are no less real today. It all looks beautiful on blu-ray, too! The result is a hugely entertaining film, and one you'll want to see again, just to witness (and maybe share in) the titanic struggles of soul that both Spielrein and Jung went through.

I've loved Cronenberg's more far-out creations such as Videodrome, The Fly, and Naked Lunch, but i'd have to say this is his best work yet. There's not much in the way of extras on this disk, but the edited interviews with him and the actors show how he's honed his art to the point that he's in complete control but also has complete trust in his actors. This is the perfect story for that kind of technique, as it creates just the right atmosphere for the whole film -- in a way, it's all about the psychological ambiguities and ambivalences of control (including self-control). A flawless work of art about people with fascinating flaws.

The Canadian filmmaker and director David Cronenberg has produced some great horror movies over the years. Titles like "The Fly", "The Spider" and "The Dead Zone" immediately come to mind. I have always regarded him as brilliant in his ability to create the macabre out of natural life forms. So when he produced a movie on the stormy relationship between Sigmund Freud and his disciple Carl Jung, I sat up and took notice. Was there something in these two men's professional and personal lives that he could masterfully exploit to offer us as a special insight into the early world of modern psychiatry? Well, yes, there is and it comes in the form of a young female patient who briefly attached herself romantically to Jung in the early part of his career. Employing psychoanalysis - the use of probing questions as a method to get at the individual's subconscious state - Jung attempted to find the root cause of Sabina's deep mental anxiety. He quickly learned that much of her distress could be traced to the actions of an abusive and tyrannical father. At this point in the film Jung crosses the line of medical ethics and becomes her lover in an attempt to help her rebuild her trust in humanity. Jung is quickly developing his own form of therapy through dream interpretation that claims to go beyond what Freud advocates: the restoration of the soul. While the two men grew apart in their theories, Sabina eventually becomes cured, ever believing that both Freud and Jung were equally right in their interpretation of mental disorders. Unfortunately, her belief, based on her personal experiences, in the reconciliation of the two views was not enough to keep these two intellectuals working together to save the world from another war. In the end, the viewer is left with a few sad and sentimental reminders about where these three lives went after they parted ways in the thirties, each to their own personal nightmare. This production was definitely a different Cronenberg than I was used to but I certainly enjoyed his attempt to capture the defining moment when a vivacious young woman came between the master and his apprentice and helped to reshape the world of psychiatry as something more than analysis of all that plagues our mental being. The viewer might be excused if he or she missed the big moment in this film because it is lost in the tragic passage of time.

Yes it is a true story but it looks like a soap opera. Lovely locations and costumes. Knightly demonstrating real skill as an actress. Sad to read the what happened subsequently post script.