A Dangerous Method: Update
I read something to indicate that it was indeed Knightley who required changes to the sexual content in the film. I had been so thrilled when I first found out she was in it; I believe she has all the traits to create a very special, dynamic, and touching performance. However, there is no question that it was not worth it to alter the graphic material for her. What the sex scenes became was not more striking or heavy for their clipped nature; it just felt edited, it felt toned down, it felt incongruous.
It really had every potential to be in world of its own. It had the promise to elevate my cinematic soul to unprecedented heights. It will now hold its place at the top of my list of anticlimaxes.
This was unquestionably the most anticipated film release of my life. Since the first time I heard Cronenberg was making a film about Jung and Freud starring Fassbender, Knightley, and Mortensen, not a day has gone by without it crossing my mind. All parties are absolutely ideal for the extremely graphic themes of sexuality that are part and parcel of Jung/Freud’s work; they’re unafraid, intelligent, nuanced powerhouses who are unfairly gorgeous.
A Dangerous Method was incredible. It was alive and sharp and beautiful. The pacing was exquisite; there was no unimportant scene. Nothing was explained to death or drawn out, heightening the intellectual appeal.
It wasn’t perfect, though, as I’d hoped and assumed it would be. It was missing about thirty minutes of graphic sexual content. The brevity of each sexual scene was clearly deliberate, but I cannot agree with it. The power of sex was masterfully interwoven into every shot, and clung to every word. I needed to see that power, unabridged, in the sexual relationship between those two people.
The film was amazing, but when I think about what it could have been … I realize I’m biting my lip and have been lost in thought for an indeterminate amount of time.
