A Dangerous Treatment

Movie: A Dangerous Treatment

Genre: biographical drama

Synopsis: Based on fact, this movie exams the relationship between Carl Jung (Michael Fassbender) and Sigmund Freud (Viggo Mortenson) and the relationship between Carl Jung and his sometime patient, Sabina Spielrein (Keira Knightley).  While initially a protégé of Freud, Jung eventually sought to divert from Frieds path – something that Freud fought bitterly.

My two cents: This was a fascinating movie. A solid performance by Viggo Mortenson, a good performance by Michael Fassbender, and an outstanding performance by Keira Knightley.  The verbal exchanges between Freud and Jung were very well-written.  Viggo Mortenson did a great job of capturing the inner turmoil that tortured Jung.  But Keira Knightley stole the movie.  I thought this was the best I have seen her.  Her character was so tortured by her mental problems that at times it seemed that she suffered from a physically deforming disease. The scenes when her character was suffering seizure-like attacks must have been exhausting to perform.  I read a lot of viewer comments criticizing her performance as over-acting and over-doing the portrayal of the physical quirks of a mental patient.  I saw an interview with the director where he describes how her portrayal followed the detailed notes Jung took describing Sabina Spielrein’s symptoms.  He said that, if anything, she underplayed the way Sabina really behaved.  This movie is well-worth seeing.

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