Ah, the one look that Fassbender does not rock to perfection: the little mustache. Just does not work for him. This film is part of Cronenberg's turn away from the sci-fi weirdness where he started, along with A History of Violence and Eastern Promises. Honestly they feel as though they are of a set, I think it's the color palette of all three. Perhaps also their focus on the ways in which we damn ourselves. Very interesting stuff. I do think that A Dangerous Method is interesting, and well-acted (especially Viggo although no quite so much with Kiera, who is so over-the-top she seems to be in another movie. I know some of the hysterics is what her character calls for but also it's grating after about 2 minutes).
I'm not sure if I consider it as well-written as the other two. Mostly because there is more writing. There's a lot less visual information and a lot more of characters discussing ideas, which like I said, is interesting but perhaps not as engaging as the other films. Not a bad film but not, like A History of Violence or Eastern Promises, one that I would get sucked into and sit down to watch if I saw it on TV while flipping through the channels.
Still, not at all a bad film and I think a very toned down and subtle performance from Fassbender. Mortensen gets to play around a bit more since Freud is a more colorful of character but despite Jung's spanking scenes/romance with Sabine/general anguish over the future of psychotherapy, he remains a pretty placid guy for most of the film. So the close-ups are helpful, to give us a better sense of the man, but ultimately I don't find him as interesting a character as the others in the film or others that Fassbender has played. Ah well. Such is life!
Good last shot, though. Especially when the camera pulls tight in on his face and he looks like he's about 30 second away from crying/screaming/throwing something/pooping himself. Well done there, everyone!
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