Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud were two of the most famous and influential psychologists of all time, providing intriguing and somewhat provocative explanations for aspects of human behavior. Using these figures as the foundation for the film, “A Dangerous Method” illustrates Jung’s complex relationship with one of his patients, Sabina Spielrein, and its effect on Freud and Jung’s development of their psychoanalytical model.

With such a historically fascinating topic to work with and a strong cast consisting of Keira Knightley, Viggo Mortensen and Michael Fassbender, this film had potential for greatness. However, the movie itself proved dull and unexciting, lacking fluidity or any element of surprise.

The film starts off fairly strong with an intense scene of an insane and thrashing Sabina (Knightley). Ridden by years of sexual abuse, Sabina turns to Carl Jung (Fassbender) to analyze layers of her past and cure her temporary insanity. Although this appears to be a promising plot line, it gets entangled with a completely separate aspect of the movie — the relationship between Jung and Freud. The two plots jump around in confusing ways, making the overall storyline hard to follow.

A few scenes of the film are devoted to conversations between Jung and Freud. Despite the fact that these exchanges are interesting in a historical sense, the visuals that accompany them are often dull. Freud’s character, played by Viggo Mortensen, is also inserted in a sporadic manner and in places that only hinder the development of the plot.

Central to the movie is Jung and Sabrina’s relationship. Beginning as a patient-doctor dynamic, it soon transforms into a secret affair dominated by sex and violence. In an attempt to be provocative and daring, many of the scenes just become hard to watch and are overly disturbing. Knightley’s Russian accent is also somewhat unconvincing and turns into a distracting element of her character.

In the end, “A Dangerous Method” proved to be a disappointment. What could have been an award-worthy film turned out to be shapeless and unmemorable. Although the acting was strong and the topic was intriguing, the script and the plot failed to perform. There also lacked an element of mystery, which furthered the lifelessness that pervaded the film.