A Dangerous Method

Zurich, 1904. Psychiatrist Carl Jung (Michael Fassbender) lives with his pregnant wife Emma (Sarah Gadon) in the Burgholzli Hospital and is on the cusp of a stellar career at the age of 30. Inspired by the work of Sigmund Freud (Viggo Mortensen), he wants to try an experimental treatment called psychoanalysis on a young patient diagnosed with hysteria. Sabina's (Keira Knightley) treatment is successful, and Sabina admits in conversations with Jung that she was humiliated and beaten by her authoritarian father as a child. Jung thus reveals a disturbing sexual element that influences her dysfunction, which will support his theory of the link between sexuality and emotional disorders. Jung enthusiastically writes to Freud about his findings, and a friendship gradually develops between them based on their correspondence about Sabina's case. Freud asks Jung to treat his friend, psychiatrist Otto Gross (Vincent Cassel), whom he describes as a completely immoral man, and a drug addict to boot. But Jung is fascinated by Gross's defiance and the logical arguments he uses to reject monogamy, and, influenced by his views, he puts aside his own moral principles and indulges in a love affair with Sabina that could have fatal consequences for both of them.