A DANGEROUS METHOD

     VIGGO MORTENSEN  MICHAEL FASSBENDER  KEIRA KNIGHTLEY

A MENTALLY DISTURBED YOUNG RUSSIAN GIRL, SABINA (KNIGHTLEY) ENDS UP IN THE CARE OF CARL JUNG (FASSBENDER).  IN TRYING TO CURE SABINA, JUNG TRIES OUT A BRAND NEW METHOD DEVELOPED BY SIGMUND FREUD (MORTENSEN).  THIS LEADS TO THE EVENTUAL MEETING BETWEEN THE TWO DOCTORS, WHERE THEIR FRIENDSHIP DEVELOPS BUT IS ULTIMATELY TORN APART BY THEIR DIFFERING APPROACHES TO PSYCHOLOGY.  SABINA IS ALSO A FACTOR IN BOTH OF THE DOCTOR'S LIVES.  THIS MOVIE TELLS THEIR STORIES.
IN TELLING THE STORY OF THE DEVELOPING FRIENDSHIP BETWEEN JUNG AND FREUD, WE GET TO SEE THE CHARACTERS INTERACT AND THEREBY HOW THAT FRIENDSHIP BEGINS.  DURING THE TIME THEY BREAK APART, WE ONLY GET TO SEE THIS THROUGH THE READING OF LETTERS THEY SEND EACH OTHER, WHICH SEEMS TO LACK SOME CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT.  THERE WERE ALSO TWO OR THREE TIMES WHEN SOMETHING WOULD HAPPEN, BUT IT WAS NEVER FULLY EXPLORED OR EXPLAINED, WHICH WAS BOTHERSOME.
MORTENSEN AND FASSBENDER DID A GOOD JOB AT PORTRAYING THE TWO DOCTORS: I FOUND THEIR ACTING TO BE BELIEVABLE.  AS FOR KNIGHTLEY, THERE WERE TIMES IN THE FIRST HALF WHERE SHE SEEMED TO BE OVERACTING IN TRYING TO CONVEY HER MENTAL ILLNESS.  THEN IN THE SECOND HALF WHEN SHE IS CURED AND A STUDENT, SHE ALMOST SEEMS TO BE UNDERACTING.  I DON'T KNOW IF THIS WAS HER DOING, THE DIRECTOR'S DOING OR IF THE SCRIPT WAS WRITTEN THAT WAY, BUT IT IS INCONSISTENT.
FINALLY, I THINK THIS MOVIE NEEDS TO BE A LITTLE LONGER SO THAT MORE CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT COULD BE ADDED, ESPECIALLY THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE TWO DOCTORS.
I WILL RECOMMEND, BUT WITH SOME RESERVATIONS.
RATING  2.5 out of 5