Dangerous Method, A **½ (R)

Mark Glass | Jan 30, 2012, 12:31 p.m.

A Dangerous Method

This fact-based drama about the intersecting lives of Sigmund Freud (Viggo Mortensen) and Carl Jung (Michael Fassbender), as each contributed to the beginnings of modern psychiatry is either a dark look at the human psyche - even among scientists delving into unlocking its mysteries - or a seamy exploitation of sexuality to which anyone may become vulnerable. While Freud writes his controversial academic treatises in Vienna, the younger Jung is trying to implement those ideas in treating mental patients at an isolated sanatarium. He begins seeing Sabina Spielrein (Keira Knitghtley), a brilliant young medical student who has become a raving lunatic, apparently due to sexual demons she can’t control, at a time when women weren’t supposed to even acknowledge any pleasure they derived from the act.

Well, the treatment plan helps the patient considerably, but getting her to understand and accept those urges leads to collaboration in Jung’s research, and with extensive hands-on implications the medical community frown upon. Jung and Freud are variably supportive of and opposed to each other, with Sabrina-related issues a significant factor in their own course. Knightley is challenged by having to portray her character’s dementia, brilliance and lust - sometimes with two or three of those facets of her persona simultaneously in play. The film serves up considerable portions of titillation and dismay with its science, though the ration ultimately skews heavily toward the sordid, rather than the scholarly. Lovely sets and scenery, but not for the faint of heart. (1/20/12)