Maybe for the first time all year, you’ve got enough free time to get out and see a movie. Over the break, we’ll provide occasional “quick takes” on movies we’ve seen, briefly covering what we liked, what we didn’t like, and whether it’s worth your time and money. Today: A Dangerous Method.
Walking into David Cronenberg's A Dangerous Method are most likely two types of theatergoers: There is the one who has seen the Cronenberg films Eastern Promises and A History of Violence. This person knows that this is the director's third collaboration with Viggo Mortensen, aka Aragorn of Lord of the Rings fame, and that Cronenberg has quite the penchant for shock, horror, and all that is graphic. Then there is the audience member who, either by deliberate violence-avoiding choice or just circumstance, hasn't before seen a Cronenberg film, but is willing to give a movie with the weighty names of Keira Knightley and Michael Fassbender a shot.
Both of these types have certain expectations. Coming from the first camp and having now seen the film, I am going to insist: Do not put stock in these preconceived notions. A Dangerous Method surprisingly and pleasantly diverts from the trajectories this director and these actors have typically been following. The ever-frail Knightley is not simply the prim period-piece mannequin that she has frequently been embodying. Fassbender steps outside of his usual mold of fierce masculinity and sexuality. Most jarring though, is Cronenberg's abandonment of his beloved violence, which he and Mortensen so gruesomely displayed in their two previous collaborations.
