A Dangerous Method Page #5

Synopsis: Suffering from hysteria, Sabina Spielrein is hospitalized under the care of Dr. Carl Jung who has begun using Dr. Sigmund Freud's talking cure with some of his patients. Spielrain's psychological problems are deeply rooted in her childhood and violent father. She is highly intelligent however and hopes to be a doctor, eventually becoming a psychiatrist in her own right. The married Jung and Spielrein eventually become lovers. Jung and Freud develop an almost father-son relationship with Freud seeing the young Jung as his likely successor as the standard-bearer of his beliefs. A deep rift develops between them when Jung diverges from Freud's belief that while psychoanalysis can reveal the cause of psychological problems it cannot cure the patient.
Director(s): David Cronenberg
Production: Sony Pictures Classics
  Nominated for 1 Golden Globe. Another 18 wins & 27 nominations.
 
IMDB:
6.4
Metacritic:
76
Rotten Tomatoes:
77%
R
Year:
2011
99 min
$5,702,083
Website
1,457 Views


I broke one of the elementary

rules of my profession.

I'm your doctor and I believe

I did you some good.

I can't forgive myself

for overstepping the mark.

I should've known that if I gave

you what you wanted...

you wouldn't be able to help

wanting more.

I don't want more.

And I never wanted more.

I never asked for more.

You didn't have to ask.

And even if you're right,

which I dispute,

do you think this is a proper way

to behave towards me?

Refusing to speak to me

except in your office?

I'm your physician.

From now on,

that's all I can be.

Don't you love me anymore?

Only as your physician.

You think I'm going to stand for this?

What choice do you have?

And there's your 20 francs.

"Dear Professor Freud,

I would be most grateful

if you would allow me to come...

and visit you in Vienna on a matter

of great interest to us both.

"Dear Friend, I have just received

this extremely strange letter".

Do you know this woman?

Who is she?

"As you will not doubt recall",

"Spielrein was the case

that brought you and me together".

"For which reason I've always regarded her

with special gratitude and affection"...

"until I understood that she was

systematically planning my seduction".

"Now I have no idea

what her intentions may be".

"Revenge, I suspect".

"I have never shown

such friendship to a patient".

"Nor have I ever been made

to suffer so much in return".

"I'm hoping you will agree to act as a

kind of go-between and avert a disaster".

"Your famous saying is carved

in block letters on my heart".

"Whatever you do, give up any idea

of trying to cure them".

"Experiences like this, however painful,

are necessary and inevitable".

"Without them,

how can we know life"?

"Dear Miss Spielrein",

"Dr. Jung is a good friend

and colleague of mine"...

"whom I believe to be incapable"...

"of frivolous

or shabby behaviour".

"What I infer from your letter"...

"is that you used to be close friends,

but are no longer so".

"If this is the case I would urge you

to consider whether the feelings"...

"that have survived

this close friendship"...

"are not best suppressed

and forgotten".

"and without the intervention"...

"and involvement of third persons

such as myself".

Herr Doctor.

Fraulein Spielrein.

What is it?

I've heard

you were leaving the hospital.

As you see.

People are saying it's because

of the scandal I caused.

I'd been planning to leave anyway.

Well, I'm sorry if I...

precipitated it.

You've always been something

of a catalyst.

I have had a letter from

Professor Freud.

Oh, yes?

The thing that shone through

was how much he loves you.

But... what was also clear is

that you denied everything.

You let him think that I was

a fantasist or a liar.

I don't see that's any of his business.

I've come here to ask you

to tell the truth.

What?

I want you to write to him

and tell him everything.

And then I want him to write to me again

to confirm that you've told him everything.

Are you blackmailing me?

I'm asking you

to tell the truth.

Why is this so important to you?

I want him to take me as his patient.

Does it have to be him?

It has to be him.

You don't feel the same way

about him, do you?

I'm disappointed

by his rigid pragmatism.

His insistence that nothing

can possibly exist...

unless some puny

or transitory intelligence...

has first become aware of it.

All the same,

will you write to him?

I could have damaged you,

you know?

Far worse than I did.

I chose not to.

All right.

I'll do it.

Thank you.

It means everything to me.

Are you going somewhere

for the summer?

Berlin with my parents.

But you are going to come back

to the university... to qualify?

Of course.

I'm going to America with Freud,

although he doesn't yet know it.

That's nice.

Good bye.

"In view of my friendship

for the patient"...

'and her complete trust in me",

"what I did was indefensible".

"I confess this, very unhappily,

to you, my father-figure"...

Hm.

"Dear Miss Spielrein,

I owe you an apology".

"But the fact that I was wrong

and that the man is to be blamed"...

"rather than the woman satisfies

my own need to revere women".

"Please accept my admiration

for the very dignified way"...

"in which you have

resolved this conflict".

Do we have all

the necessary paperwork, Ferenczi?

I have everything, Professor.

Hm.

Good.

I've always been in two minds

about America.

Maybe we made a foolish error.

Do they really want us there?

They postponed the Congress

for 2 months, so that you could attend.

Surely that gives you some indication.

Hm.

Yes.

I think it's gonna be a great adventure.

Yes.

I hope you're right.

I go this way.

What do you mean?

I left my wife

to make the arrangements.

I'm afraid she's booked me

a first-class state room.

I see.

I was on the Swiss-Austrian border

somewhere in the mountains at dusk.

There was a long wait... because

everybody's baggage was being searched.

I noticed a decrepit customs official

wearing the old royal and imperial uniform.

And I was watching him

walking up and down..

with his melancholy

and disgruntled expression,

when someone said to me,

"He isn't really there".

He's a ghost, who still hasn't found out

how to die properly.

Is that the whole dream?

All I can remember.

Did you say the Swiss-Austrian border?

Yes.

Must have something to do with us.

You think so?

Everybody is being searched.

Hm?

Perhaps that's an indication that the ideas

which used to flow so freely...

between us are now subject

to a most suspicious examination.

You mean the ideas

flowing in your direction.

And I'm afraid the old relic shuffling

about in this entirely useless fashion...

must almost certainly be me.

- Wait a minute.

- Whom you very mercifully wish...

could be put out of his misery.

A humane death wish.

Perhaps the fact

that he was unable to die...

simply indicated

the immortality of his ideas.

Oh.

Yes.

So you agree,

it must have been me?

I didn't say that.

No.

Never mind.

Most entertaining example.

What about you?

You have a dream to report?

Hmm?

I had a most elaborate dream

last night.

Particularly rich.

Let's hear it.

I'd love to tell you...

but I don't think I should.

Why ever not?

I wouldn't want to risk my authority.

Take it from me,

what you're looking at is the future.

You think they know we're on our way,

bringing them the plague?

Fraulein Spielrein.

Whose idea was it for you

to send me your dissertation?

The Herr Direktor.

Yes, of course.

He kept insisting this was the kind

of material you were looking for...

for your Yearbook.

It certainly is a very fascinating case

you've chosen to investigate.

But if we're to consider it

for the Yearbook, there are...

one or two mistakes which

will have to be dealt with.

Of course.

Might you have a little time

to discuss all this?

Yes.

When I left the hospital

and moved out here...

I was afraid it would take years...

Rate this script:2.5 / 2 votes

Christopher Hampton

Christopher James Hampton, CBE, FRSL (born 26 January 1946) is a British playwright, screenwriter, translator and film director. He is best known for his play based on the novel Les Liaisons dangereuses and the film version Dangerous Liaisons (1988) and also more recently for writing the nominated screenplay for the film adaptation of Ian McEwan's Atonement. more…

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Submitted on August 05, 2018

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