DIALOGUE

As much as I might criticize Jung for acting out his personal fantasies on women, I have to admit to a certain pleasure I take in reading about his dramatic relationships with a series of mistresses, Sabrina Spielrein being the first. Unfortunately this prurient desire was not satisfied in the lease in Cronenberg's film, A Dangerous Method. About the only danger in this movie was dying from boredom. Overall it lacks that alchemical chemistry between the trio of characters, Jung, Freud and Sabrina - not withstanding Emma who failed to complete the quaternity.  Having worked in a state hospital I wished I had as cooperative a patient as Sabrina. Despite her physical contortions - overacted by Keira Knightley- she reveals without much prompting the cause of her problems in the first five minutes; then goes on without much of any work to spout out some of the main tenets of what would become Jung's psychology. The characters are wooden, each reciting lines that may have worked in the play but don't play well on the big screen. I persistently felt that these rich people have too much time on their hands; way too much navel-gazing. Where I imagined Jung in real life to have really suffered a psychotic break after his break with Freud, we find the character sipping brandy as he gazes on his beloved lake Zurich from the comforts of his wife's estate. Nothing was revealed in this film and I can't imagine how anyone not familiar with Jung's life would have endured staying to the end. I didn't care about these characters. I like Cronenberg's work and am therefore that much more disappointed since I think we all yearn to see Jung finally assume the spotlight his work deserves, even if it comes by way of negative publicity. Well, I need to get back to reading the Red Book which at least excited the public's curiosity into this complex man.