Carl Jung (Michael Fassbender) is a confident young psychoanalyst making great strides in his field when he encounters repressed Russian heiress Sabina Spielrein (Keira Knightley), an exemplary test patient for his experimental techniques.
As his reputation swells, Jung comes into the orbit of Sigmund Freud (Viggo Mortensen) and the film follows their relationship as the power shifts from wizened mentor to ambitious protégé.
Knightley puts in a deliciously nutty performance as Spielrein, the saucy catalyst who comes between Jung and his hi-faluting ethics, all angular poise against his pride and self deception; while Mortensen and Fassbender are having a royal time in a series of meticulously composed conversational volleys. Add to the already combustible proceedings Vincent Cassel as a sex addict who teaches Jung a thing or two, and the film crackles with a sense of performers at the top of their game.
Cronenberg, too, is surprisingly at home with the buttoned-up material, zipping through the witty script to detail a seminal moment in the development of modern psychoanalysis. Subconscious fears and desires are the foundation for much of the director’s oeuvre, and what A Dangerous Method lacks in squelchy body horror it makes up for with a hiccupping kinkiness.