A Dangerous Method’

Posted: August 6th, 2013

The film review

            A dangerous method is a movie directed by David Cronenberg that seeks to describe the relationship of Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud, who are the founders of analytical psychology and psychoanalysis respectively and Sabina Spielrein who was initially Jung’s patient but later emerged to be among the pioneer female psychoanalysts. This movie was adapted from a 2002 stage play named “The talking cure” by Christopher Hampton, which was based on a 1993 non-fiction book by John Kerr (Kerr, 1993). The plot in the movie begins with Sabina arriving in Zurich suffering from a hysteria condition where Carl Jung is working as a psychiatrist. He initially takes her in as a patient while deciding to experiment with the psychoanalysis approach by Sigmund Freud. Finding Sabina to be highly intelligent, he corresponds about this case with Freud who refers another patient to him, the patient being Otto Gross.

How the move deviates from the theories

            In the analytical theory, Jung states the importance of reflecting on the unconscious in one’s actions and not being held bondage by the normal societal norms. Despite Jung advocating for acceptance of the unconscious he breaks of the relationship with Sabina in order to maintain social dignity hence acting against his own theory.