6 May 2012

A dangerous method

Among scientific fallacies, Freud was obsessed with fame and extrapolated anecdotal or personal evidence to make general statements: that I already knew from reading the very long but thorough book Le crépuscule d'une idole by French philosopher Michel Onfray (The Twilight of an Idol in English, as a reference to Nietzsche's work). David Cronenberg's film, A Dangerous Method, remained quite superficial on the scientific deception of psychoanalysis, and instead mainly focused on the deteriorating relationships between Carl Jung and Freund, and on Jung's relationship with one of his patients. The pace of the film is too slow and the plot somewhat too predictable. I only took out from it an increased interest into the lives of Carl Jung and Otto Gross, another psychoanalyst, pushing me to read their biographies. A forgettable film – too bad, since I really liked Vigor Mortensen in Cronenberg's other movies with him, A History of Violence and Eastern Promises.