History Film / ADangerousMethod

* BreakingSpeech: Gross to Jung.

* DreamingOfThingsToCome: Jung claims to have been experiencing bouts of ESP his entire life, and in one scene (set in 1914), describes a dream where [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarOne Northern Europe is drowned in a tidal wave of blood.]]

* ItsPronouncedTropay: Freud corrects Jung on the name of the method, it's pronounced PSYCHO-analisis.

* SexAsARiteOfPassage: [[spoiler:Sabina]].

* ThereAreNoCoincidences: Jung is a firm believer in this, drawing on personal experience.

''A Dangerous Method'' is a 2011 period drama directed by Creator/DavidCronenberg. It concerns the beginning of CarlJung's (Creator/MichaelFassbender) career in psychoanalysis, told through his relationships with a patient, Sabina Spielrein (Creator/KeiraKnightley), and his mentor, UsefulNotes/SigmundFreud (Creator/ViggoMortensen).

''A Dangerous Method'' is a 2011 period drama directed by Creator/DavidCronenberg. It concerns the beginning of CarlJung's (MichaelFassbender) career in psychoanalysis, told through his relationships with a patient, Sabina Spielrein (KeiraKnightley), and his mentor, UsefulNotes/SigmundFreud (Creator/ViggoMortensen).

* Theatre/OedipusRex

'''''A Dangerous Method''''' is a 2011 period drama directed by Creator/DavidCronenberg. It concerns the beginning of CarlJung's (MichaelFassbender) career in psychoanalysis, told through his relationships with a patient, Sabina Spielrein (KeiraKnightley), and his mentor, UsefulNotes/SigmundFreud (Creator/ViggoMortensen).

* [[spoiler:HeroicBSOD]].

* [[spoiler:TheOneThatGotAway]]: Sabina and Jung, for each other.

'''''A Dangerous Method''''' is a 2011 period drama directed by Creator/DavidCronenberg. It concerns the beginning of CarlJung's (MichaelFassbender) career in psychoanalysis, told through his relationships with a patient, Sabina Spielrein (KeiraKnightley), and his mentor, SigmundFreud (Creator/ViggoMortensen).

* SigmundFreud: The film plays up Freud's paternalistic and paranoid tendencies, portraying him as a sort of passive-aggressive antagonist.

Jung, an up-and-coming Swiss doctor, is working at a sanatorium when he begins to treat a Ms. Sabina Spielrein. Sabina, a Russian Jew, is hysterical, and Jung decides to try the "talking cure" being popularized by Freud in Vienna. The treatment proves successful, and Sabina returns to medical school, staying in contact with Jung. The two develop a romantic relationship, with Jung dissatisfied with his marriage to a young Swiss heiress. Their affair is intellectual (exploring Jung's fascination with memes and classic archetypes) and sexual (exploring Sabina's masochism in a consensual environment). Eventually, the guilt of his infidelity overwhelms Jung (as well as rumors revealing its existence to the public), and he ends the affair despite Sabina's vehement opposition. Eventually, the two reconcile and re-initiate their affair, but this time, Sabina breaks it off to go work in Vienna with Freud.

* DownerEnding: The ending explains how each of the protagonists died. Otto by starvation in Berlin in 1919, Freud being driven out of Austria by the Nazis and dying of cancer, Sabina executed by Nazi occupiers in World War II and Jung overcoming his nervous breakdown during World War I and dying peacefully in 1961, after becoming the "world's leading psychologist".

* {{Yandere}}: Averted. While Sabina's reaction to the end of the affair is emotional, she [[spoiler: refuses to explicitly blackmail Jung, mostly emotionally wounding him by demanding a referral to Freud.]]

* LighterAndSofter: One of DavidCronenberg's most mainstream films, notably lacking the BodyHorror and extreme violence of his other movies.

* WordAssociationTest: performed by Jung with Emma as a subject and Sabina as an assistant and an interpreter.

Meanwhile, Jung and Freud begin a correspondence. While impressed with Freud, Jung has reservations about his rigidly sexual approach to the human psyche. Freud brands Jung his successor and heir, reinforcing the paternalistic relationship. The two collaborate but continue to grow apart for a variety of reasons: Jung denies that all psychology is sexual and final, while Freud denounces Jung's interest in non-traditional venues of psychological study, which he calls "mystical nonsense." The two also chafe at their sociopolitical differences; Freud a Austrian Jew with little expendable income, and Jung a wealthy Swiss Protestant. This is all complicated by Jung's affair with Sabina; the young woman turns to Freud after their affair ends, and Jung feels betrayed, convinced she has chosen Freud's interpretation of psychoanalysis over his.

* MadLove: Played with. Arguably, Sabina goes from hysterical to reasonably sane, while Jung feels his mind coming apart over the course of the film. Their affairs falls at a point where the two are equally "crazy."

* PassingTheTorch: Freud is looking for an intellectual son, but both Gross and Jung dissapoint him.

* SingleIssuePsychology: Lampshaded. While Sabina's therapy reveals a sexual trauma is the root of her masochism, Jung criticizes Freud for being so obsessed with sex as the root of all human psychology.

* EuropeansAreKinky: Played straight.

* SpankTheCutie

* DreamingOfThingsToCome: Jung claims to have been experiencing bouts of ESP his entire life, and in one scene (set in 1914), describes a dream where [[WorldWarOne Northern Europe is drowned in a tidal wave of blood.]]

'''''A Dangerous Method''''' is a 2011 period drama directed by Creator/DavidCronenberg. It concerns the beginning of CarlJung's (MichaelFassbender) career in psychoanalysis, told through his relationships with a patient, Sabina Spielrein (KeiraKnightley), and his mentor, SigmundFreud (ViggoMortensen).

* SlaveToPR: Freud is wary of Jung's parapsychological approach before any preliminary evaluation because it will be used as a weapon by their detractors, who are eager to Freud a whacko.

* DavidCronenberg: One of his most mainstream films, notably lacking the BodyHorror and extreme violence of his other movies.

''A Dangerous Method'' is a 2011 period drama directed by DavidCronenberg. It concerns the beginning of CarlJung's (MichaelFassbender) career in psychoanalysis, told through his relationships with a patient, Sabina Spielrein (KeiraKnightley), and his mentor, SigmundFreud (ViggoMortensen).

* HannibalLecture: Gross to Jung.

* DownerEnding: The ending explains how each of the protagonists died. Otto by starvation in Berlin in 1919, Freud being driven out of Austria by the Nazi's and dying of cancer, Sabina executed by Nazi occupiers in World War II and Jung overcoming his nervous breakdown during World War I and dying peacefully in 1961, after becoming the "world's leading psychologist".

''A Dangerous Method'' is a 2011 period drama directed by DavidCronenberg. It concerns the beginning of CarlJung's (MichaelFassbender) career in psychoanalysis, told through his relationships with a patient, Sabina Spielrein (KeiraKnightley), and his mentor, SigmundFreud (ViggoMortensen).

Meanwhile, Jung and Freud begin a correspondence. While impressed with Freud, Jung has reservations about his rigidly sexual approach to the human psyche. Freud brands Jung his successor and heir, reinforcing the paternalistic relationship. The two collaborate but continue to grow apart for a variety of reasons: Jung denies that all psychology is sexual and final, while Freud denounces Jung's interest in non-traditional venues of psychological study, which he calls "mystical nonsense." The two also chafe at their sociopolitical differences; Freud a Austrian Jew with little expendable income, and Jung a wealthy Swiss Protestant. This is all complicated by Jung's affair with Sabina; the young woman turns to Freud after their affair ends, and Jung feels betrayed, convinced she has chosen Freud's interpretation of psychoanalysis over his.

* OedipusRex

* CuteAndPsycho: Averted. While Sabina's reaction to the end of the affair is emotional, she [[spoiler: refuses to explicitly blackmail Jung, mostly emotionally wounding him by demanding a referral to Freud.]]

* DownerEnding: The ending explains how each of the protagonists died. Otto by starvation in Berlin in 1919, Freud being driven out of Austra by the Nazi's and dying of cancer, Sabina dying by excution by Nazi occupiers in World War II and Jung overcoming his nervous breakdown at World War I and dying peacefully in 1961, after becoming the "world's leading psychologist".

* FreudWasRight: Part of the crux is the dispute whether he is or not. At least he was right in Sabina's case, concerning the sexual roots of her hysteria.

* FreudianExcuse: Played straight. Sabina reveals, during therapy, that her masochism stems from sexual abuse by her father.

* WomenInWhite: Sabina, Emma, and most other women in the film.

* DownerEnding: The ending explains how each of the protagonists died.