Presented by the Melbourne Cinémathèque
A Dangerous Method
When
25-31 Oct 2021
View online
In David Cronenberg's simmering drama, an affair between Carl Jung and his patient sparks a downfall in the psychoanalyst's relationship to Sigmund Freud, as they clash over dreams, libido and the nature of freedom.
“The rigor and repression on display here… is the raw, liberating and terrifying emergence of a distinctly modern way of understanding and trying to assuage, some of the pain and intensity of being alive.”
Carl Jung (Michael Fassbender) begins a correspondence with Sigmund Freud (Viggo Mortenson) over experimental therapy sessions he conducts with his new patient, Sabina Spielrein (Keira Knightley). However, an affair between Jung and Spielrein sparks a downfall in his relations with Freud, heightened by their conflicting positions on dream interpretation, the libido, and the nature of freedom and repression.
Shot in Vienna and Cologne, this simmering drama features stellar performances from the three leads and a tender piano rendition of part of the third opera of Wagner’s The Ring cycle, Siegfried, performed by celebrated concert pianist, Lang Lang.