A Dangerous Method
I didn't regret the hour and a half I spent in the theatre, but it really wasn't worth 7.80
My Facebook post really sums up my thoughts on the film:
I always preferred Jung to Freud, but Fassy just makes him creepy. A Dangerous Method is an interesting take on female hysteria, sex, and BDSM. But it's really just two old men talking about women and sex; the woman owns her desires (hooray!), but more often than not she's a catalyst to their relationship, rather than an active agent. Relevant to our society in light of recent events regarding (among other things) contraceptives, non?
+ Fassy and Viggo did their parts well; I both sympathized with and strongly disliked both of them at various points.
+ I find I keep having the same remarks about women in my entertainment recently: there's not enough focus on their thoughts and feelings. River, Irene, now Keira's character--I would watch episodes and films devoted to their shenanigans and working through their issues. I'd read fic after fic and meta after meta of trying to understand their psyches. I want more focus on women and their stories. Is this a side effect of my relatively recently discovered feminism? Or is it that I want more stories of women coming into their own because that's the time I'm in? Probably a bit of both, if I'm honest, especially in terms of sexual women. I'm really only discovering my sexuality and it'd be nice to see some of the characters I look up to tell their own stories.
+ But in terms of the film: I felt Keira's character was wonderfully fascinating but somehow lacking. An accurate representation of female hysteria? I don't know; haven't done enough research. An accurate representation of female submissives? Probably not, but again, I can't say. (Also because it's hard to give an accurate representation of such a broad group of people.) I really loved how she learned to own her desires and ask for them.
+ I thought a lot of the movie was complete bullshit and I couldn't figure out what they were selling. Are they saying Freud was right? Jung was right? They're men to respect and aspire to be (even though they're both douchebags)? Women are usually lying cheating dirty whores? The Madonna/Whore complex? I could not, for the life of me, figure out what they were trying to say. I gave up about halfway through because it was making me angry.
+ Gender-related things I really enjoyed, though: during the scene where Keira's character first kisses Jung, he goes, "it's usually the man who makes the first advance." To which she replies, "Do you not think that females have some male inside them and males some female? Or at least, they should?" Sure, it's still kind of problematic, but it's the best we're going to get from a film like that, set in that period. I very nearly cheered.
+ I did like that they showed some of the spanking/belt whipping.
My Facebook post really sums up my thoughts on the film:
I always preferred Jung to Freud, but Fassy just makes him creepy. A Dangerous Method is an interesting take on female hysteria, sex, and BDSM. But it's really just two old men talking about women and sex; the woman owns her desires (hooray!), but more often than not she's a catalyst to their relationship, rather than an active agent. Relevant to our society in light of recent events regarding (among other things) contraceptives, non?
+ Fassy and Viggo did their parts well; I both sympathized with and strongly disliked both of them at various points.
+ I find I keep having the same remarks about women in my entertainment recently: there's not enough focus on their thoughts and feelings. River, Irene, now Keira's character--I would watch episodes and films devoted to their shenanigans and working through their issues. I'd read fic after fic and meta after meta of trying to understand their psyches. I want more focus on women and their stories. Is this a side effect of my relatively recently discovered feminism? Or is it that I want more stories of women coming into their own because that's the time I'm in? Probably a bit of both, if I'm honest, especially in terms of sexual women. I'm really only discovering my sexuality and it'd be nice to see some of the characters I look up to tell their own stories.
+ But in terms of the film: I felt Keira's character was wonderfully fascinating but somehow lacking. An accurate representation of female hysteria? I don't know; haven't done enough research. An accurate representation of female submissives? Probably not, but again, I can't say. (Also because it's hard to give an accurate representation of such a broad group of people.) I really loved how she learned to own her desires and ask for them.
+ I thought a lot of the movie was complete bullshit and I couldn't figure out what they were selling. Are they saying Freud was right? Jung was right? They're men to respect and aspire to be (even though they're both douchebags)? Women are usually lying cheating dirty whores? The Madonna/Whore complex? I could not, for the life of me, figure out what they were trying to say. I gave up about halfway through because it was making me angry.
+ Gender-related things I really enjoyed, though: during the scene where Keira's character first kisses Jung, he goes, "it's usually the man who makes the first advance." To which she replies, "Do you not think that females have some male inside them and males some female? Or at least, they should?" Sure, it's still kind of problematic, but it's the best we're going to get from a film like that, set in that period. I very nearly cheered.
+ I did like that they showed some of the spanking/belt whipping.