Set in Switzerland in the years before World War I, David Cronenberg's "A Dangerous Method" is a tale of psychoanalysis, friendship and — primarily — conversation. Its characters are three key figures in the early days of psychoanalysis: Carl Jung (Michael Fassbender), Sigmund Freud (Viggo Mortensen) and Sabina Spielrein (Keira Knightley). The first two need no introduction; the third was a deeply troubled teenage patient of Jung's who later became a remarkable psychiatrist in her own right, specializing in child psychology. "A Dangerous Method" explores the friendship between Freud and Jung, the birth of psychoanalysis and the way that Spielrein came between the two men and affected both of their work.

From these intriguing characters, Cronenberg and screenwriter Christopher Hampton (adapting his own play, along with John Karr's book "A Most Dangerous Method") have crafted an elegant, almost stately film, with the emphasis on ideas and discussion rather than dramatic action. It might feel almost too quiet, if not for Knightley's manic, borderline-over-the-top depiction of mental illness; she's unafraid to deploy an almost comic, grimacing underbite and a desperate, unfettered sense of panic. You find yourself admiring the bravery of the performance, even while wondering — and, therefore, being taken out of the story a bit — if she, and Cronenberg, have gone a little too far.

Meanwhile, Fassbender and Mortensen demonstrate impeccable control, in apt contrast. The tidy, confident precision that Fassbender brings to Jung — a man given to such pronouncements as "Angels always speak German. It's traditional" — makes it all the more compelling when he ultimately, painfully rejects his own ethics to enter an affair with Sabina. And Mortensen's bearded, slightly vague Freud has an amused self-awareness. In one scene, we see him carefully scrutinizing his cigar — wondering, perhaps, if it is just a cigar.

Moira Macdonald:

206-464-2725 or mmacdonald@seattletimes.com