I don’t believe in giving films a full review during a film festival, and if I ever needed a reminder for my reasoning, A DANGEROUS METHOD came along and delivered it.

The latest film by David Cronenberg is, in part, a chronicle of the relationship between Sigmund Freud (Viggo Mortensen) and Carl Jung (Michael Fassbender). The tale focuses primarily on Jung, following his family life and his complicated relationship with a patient named Sabin Spielrein (Kiera Knightley). With it all being set before WWI, the entire science we now associate with psychotherapy was still being established. As such, there is a lot of room for unforeseen difficulties to arise, and not much room for discourse from what has already been established.

The reason I say that A DANGEROUS METHOD is a film I couldn’t review right away is because (and I apologize if I’ve said this a lot lately), it wasn’t what I expected it to be. Through his last few films – SPIDER, A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE, and EASTERN PROMISES – David Cronenberg has been walking down a particular avenue. They have been tales of real human darkness that takes us on a slow journey down a river of emotional pain. I expected A DANGEROUS METHOD to follow that template, and while it does in many respects, it does so with more subtlety. Perhaps too much, but I’ll figure that out when I write about it proper.

What the film unquestionably brings, are some top shelf performances by all involved. Knightley is actually really disturbing early on as a woman trying to get a handle on her repressed psychosis. Her character has the most fully realized story and it does a lot for giving the film shape. Vincent Cassel owns every scene he is in, playing the devil on one’s shoulder with true aplomb.

Perhaps what leaves me perplexed is the way the film handles Fassbender and Mortensen. We know what both can do by now, and in the case of the latter, we especially know what Cronenberg is capable of getting from him. However, their chemistry is an odd one…as if both of them were being kept on the leash. This might well have been what David Cronenberg was going for, but I can’t shake the notion that he dropped two talented actors into the playpen but didn’t allow them to bring any toys in.

I know I didn’t dislike A DANGEROUS METHOD, that much is clear…and in keeping with my mantra, I do fully intend to watch it again. It’s a meaty movie, with a lot to consider. While I’ll likely never move past the fact that the film feels flawed, the question is whether the film succeeds despite those flaws, or falls because of them.

A DANGEROUS METHOD has finished its TIFF engagement. It will be released into theatres on November 23rd.