Recorded Picture Company (RPC), Lago Film, Prospero Pictures,

Keira Knightley, Viggo Mortensen, Michael Fassbender, Vincent Cassel, Sarah Gadon, André Hennicke, Arndt Schwering-Sohnrey, Mignon Remé

This movie is a historical drama based on the lives of several famous people. The story revolves around Sabina Spielrein (Keira Knightley) who is a young Russian girl suffering from mental problems and admitted to a mental hospital where she was treated by Dr. Carl Jung (Michael Fassbinder) who found himself attracted to her. She was treated and became much more stable, and actually began studying to become a psychiatrist herself. Meanwhile Jung became friends with Sigmund Freud (Viggo Mortensen) and the two formed a lifelong friendship and collaboration, even though Jung didn’t always agree with Freud’s theories. Jung was much more open minded about things that were not understandable. Based on a book about Spielrein, it covers the conflicts in each of their lives and this interesting trio of early pioneers in the shrink business.

This is a rather slow and unfortunately boring story. This week has been full of films that have a good idea, and a good premise, but don’t seem to go anywhere. Knightley’s attempts at a Russian accent was commendable, but not very good. Anytime things got to dramatic, the English accent would return. It was nerve wracking sometimes. Being her story, it focused less on Jung and Freud who are rather interesting subjects. Speilrein, on the other hand, was a flamboyant and colorful character, but her short life wasn’t actually that spell-binding. The story seemed to drag on. As time goes by, I found myself not liking any of the characters, and it was a relief when it was finally over. I didn’t absolutely hate the movie, as there were some good scenes, especially early one when Speilrein was really nuts. She did a good job playing the insane woman. But as time went on, I just found myself wishing it would end. Not highly recommended, unless you’re really interested in the characters, but I’m sure there are better studies on the lives of these famous doctors, better than this one.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

 

 

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