Well, don’t take place too much emphasis on it just yet — this is based on one person’s observation from an early screening — but that said it’s an intriguing bit of info that is certainly worth noting and paying attention to.
A helpful reader has pointed us in the direction of the an early reaction to David Cronenberg‘s “A Dangerous Method” that has made it’s way to the IMDB boards. Someone named Davis McArdle recently caught a screening of the film (we’d guess a test screening since in their announcement yesterday, Sony Pictures Classics noted the film was still in post-production) and hit Twitter hard with numerous tweets about his thoughts on the film. “Fascinating doesn’t quite cut it, amazing neither. But then again, I was the only one to even like it here. Yes, it is stage-y. Yes, it is dense. But yes, it’s also pure Cronenberg. And Keira Knightley is either on her way to hopping the Kodiak Theater stage next year or get ridiculed by audiences for years to come,” McArdle noted. So what will be the divisive scene?
“…Keira has one scene in particular, a brutal but wonderful 3mins monologue in full neurosis, that others found too much,” McArdle tweeted adding, “…They expected something else entirely, more in the vein of ATONEMENT or PRIDE & PREJUDICE…people see Period Piece + Kiera and immediately think of that. Um, ahem, and *smart* critics should love it…It really is a very cerebral piece, as subtle as sophisticated. Only it deals w/controversial themes & that put off many.”
So let’s put this into some context shall we? In the film Keira Knightley plays Sabina Spielrein, a patient who is admitted in August 1904 to the Burghölzli mental hospital near Zürich where she came under the care of Carl Jung (Michael Fassbender). The two developed a relationship — that some contend turned sexual — much to the chagrin of Jung’s mentor Sigmund Freud (Viggo Mortensen). The “dangerous method” the title likely refers to is also known as “the talking cure” (which was the working title of the film and same name of the Christopher Hampton play on which it is based), which layed out the first steps of psychoanalysis pioneered by Freud in which patients talked through their symptoms. So, could Knightley’s extended monologue stem from the application of this new method? That would probably be a pretty good guess.
At any rate, it stokes our anticipation to the film which McArdle says is “more M.BUTTERFLY than ‘audience friendlies’ [sic] HISTORY OF VIOLENCE or E.PROMISES” which is interesting to note. No release date yet, but the film is expected to make a splashy premiere at the Venice Film Festival in August. And for your Oscar hounds, you might want to add Keira Knightley to your list of contenders for now.
