Dir: David Cronenberg | Wri: Christopher Hampton | Cast: Viggo Mortensen, Keira Knightley, Michael Fassbender, Vincent Cassel | Biopic drama 93mins
David Cronenburg is once again probing the world of the subconscious with this story about the beginnings of psychoanalysis, based on Christopher Hampton’s play “The Talking Cure”.
Michael Fassbender plays a buttoned-up Jungian shrink seduced by the challenge of experimenting with a controversial new method developed by his mentor Freud (Viggo Mortensen), while also attempting to break away from his influence. So far all very prim and proper and under control. Not. Because into the Clinic steps Keira Knightley as Fraulein Spielrein. Supremely intelligent, she’s also sexually disturbed and as highly strung as a boned corsets. Persuasive yet out of his depth (and married) Fassbender attempts to treat her in a battle between desire and rationalism. And guess which one wins? There’s also an outlandish turn by Vincent Kassel as fellow analyst and debauched expounder of free love, Otto Gross. The intricacies of psychoanalysis make for a compelling psychodrama in this high-octane romp exposing the darker impulses and inner lives of Freud’s Swiss Lakeside clinic in the early MT ©
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