A Dangerous Method is a highly speculative film about the (sexed-up) history of psychoanalysis. Words like “transference” and “countertransference” pay lip service to the field’s nascent theory, but clearly the real focus of the movie is the erotic appeal of Keira Knightley as Sabina Spielrein, the patient/colleague/bit on the side of Jung (Michael Fassbender). Her first 
appearance as a young woman suffering from hysteria is marred by details which add to the aesthetic appeal of the film but do nothing for it as a serious piece of cinema. Nevertheless, after a tediously predictable and extended build-up, Jung falls for her artfully dishevelled hair and rather bizarre accent, signifying she is a Russian speaking German. When Freud (Viggo Mortensen) appears on the scene things get slightly more interesting, but not much. Even before our introduction to him, cigar in mouth, and the discussion of psychoanalytic precepts with Jung, it is evident that this Freud is little more than a caricature of the famous figure. Just before the credits roll the film manages to show up its own shortcomings, a biographical insert revealing the real Spielrein’s death in a Nazi concentration camp, and we have to wonder if Keira Knightley in suspenders has really done her life justice.
