A Dangerous Method -- Film Review
A Dangerous Method
Directed by David Cronenberg
It is unusual to see a movie about ideas and interesting characters. This is an outstanding depiction of the Sigmund Freud -- Carl Jung relationship, with most of the emphasis on Jung and his relationship with Sabina Spielrein. I wasn't aware of Spielrein's role in the complicated Freud-Jung relationship. Ernest Jones, in his massive three volume biography of Freud, mentions her once in volume 2 in relation to the death instinct, and lists a paper of hers as a reference in Volume 3. Paul Roazen, in Freud and His Followers (1974), Frank Sulloway in Freud: Biologist of the Mind (1979), and Ronald W. Clark Freud: The Man and the Cause (1980) mention Spielrein once each, always in passing, and always in relation to the death instinct. Sometimes, these mentions are the result of quoting a letter of Freud's in which he mentions her. There is never any discussion of her personal relationship with Jung or how she came to know Freud or be involved in the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society. The Freud/Jung Letters (1974), edited by William McGuire, contains all of the crucial letters upon which the film is based (not counting Spielrein's). However Sabina Spielrein is only mentioned by name for the first time on June 4, 1909, by Jung (144J, p. 228). She is referred to numerous times before that, but anonymously. Simply reading the letters one would not be able to connect all of these mentions to the same person. To the everlasting credit of the editor, William McGuire, the index entry for Sabina Spielrein, lists all of the letters mentioning her, whether explicitly or anonymously. You can put the story together from the index entry in McGuire's edition of the Freud/Jung letters, but you probably wouldn't unless you were looking for it. If the movie depiction of these events is anywhere close to realistic, it is clear how unabashedly Jung lied to Freud about the matter in his letters of March 7 and 11, 1909. (133J, p. 207; 135J, p. 212) His confession letter of June 21, 1909, (148J, p. 236-37) is not a "full disclosure," as I read it, and it seems to me a self-serving attempt to dismiss the matter and tar Spielrein.
McGuire give this footnote to letter 144J (p. 228) where Jung mentions Spielrein by name for the first time.
"Sabina (or Sabine) Spielrein (1886?-1934+), of Russian origin. 1905-11, studied medicine at the University of Zurich; M.D. 1911. Later in 1911 she became a member of the Vienna Society. From 1912, in Berlin. In 1921-23, Dr. Spielrein (then called Spielrein-Scheftel) practiced in Geneva; Jean Piaget underwent his didactic analysis with her. In 1923, she returned to the Soviet Union and taught at the North Caucasus University, Rostov on the Don, and was listed in the International Journal as a member of the Russian Society until 1933, after which year the psychoanalytic movement was officially abolished in the Soviet Union. Grinstein lists 30 publications in French and German, beginning with articles in the Jahrbuch in 1911 and 1912; the last article was listed in 1934."
McGuire does not seem to realize that she was killed by the Nazis in 1942. Incidentally, if there are any graduate students out there who want to do a dissertation translating her papers and publishing them in English, I would be willing to serve on the supervision committee.
The film is beautifully done. The acting is outstanding. I particularly liked Viggo Mortensen as Sigmund Freud, Michael Fassbender as Carl Jung, and Vincent Kassel as Otto Gross. Keira Knightley, however, was the real powerhouse in the film. She should be nominated for something, or maybe a lot of things. It was her beauty and characterization of Sabina that gives the film its relentless hold on the viewer. I don't know how popular this film will be. The audience is probably going to be educated, Europeanized, and attuned to psychological nuances and subtleties. How many Americans does that describe? But it is a first rate historical dramatization that enhances understanding of the rift between Freud and Jung and enables one to see that it was not only about differences in ideas and the direction for psychoanalytic research, but it carried a strong personal element that was rooted in deep differences in character and culture. Hopefully this film will awaken scholarly interest in Sabina Spielrein and bring to greater light her influence on the development of psychoanalysis.