David Cronenberg is an incredibly fascinating filmmaker. While on the surface many of his films may appear to be merely strange sci-fi outings or overly erotic indulgences, there is a lot more going on in his work. For example: in a lot of his older work, he has a strange fascination with exploring the [usually] dangerous consequences of the rise of technology in our society. There are films like “The Fly,” about a scientist whose experiments with teleportation go seriously wrong (and the dangers of teleportation are something my friends can tell you I won’t shut up about since reading Michio Kaku’s fascinating book “Physics of the Impossible [4]”; for further examples, click here [5]); or the bizarrely erotic “Crash” (not the 2005 Oscar winner) which at first glance may look to just be about a vehicular sexual fetish, but the metaphors run deeper; or 1999’s “eXistenZ,” which works curiously well as a companion piece to his earlier film “Videodrome,” an exploration humanity’s fascination with the violent and depraved.
However, after 2002’s “Spider” he took a curious turn for the more realistic with the [still great] films “A History of Violence” and “Eastern Promises.” Last year he released his newest film, “A Dangerous Method [6],” which plays this weekend at the University of Louisville Floyd Theater.
“A Dangerous Method” is based on the true story of the relationship between Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, and Jung’s once-patient and eventually first female psychoanalyst, Sabina Spelrein. The film stars Viggo Mortenson (in his third consecutive starring role in a Cronenberg film) as Freud, Michael Fassbender as Jung, and Keira Knightley as Spelrein.
“A Dangerous Method” plays at the Floyd Theater tonight at 5:00 and 8:00, Saturday at 5:00 and 8:00, and Sunday at 8:00. Admission is $1.50 for U of L students and $3.00 for the general public. The Floyd Theater is located on the third floor of the Student Activities Center on the U of L campus.
Image: Internet Movie Database