By Katherine Monahan

As enriching and educational as it can be to watch foreign films, it sure is relaxing to watch a nice English-language movie once in a while, with familiar faces and themes.

The Canadian-German production “A Dangerous Method” features one of my favorite actors, Viggo Mortensen, as Sigmund Freud.  Michael Fassbender (recently seen as young Magneto in “X-Men:First Class”) is Carl Jung, while Keira Knightley, looking unusually skinny and with dark shadows painted under her eyes, is his hysteric Russian mental patient Sabina Speilrein.  And Vincent Cassel (“Black Swan”) puts in an extended cameo as the Austrian psychoanalyst Otto Gross.

A classic historical drama, “A Dangerous Method” follows the married, composed Jung and the beautiful, fragmented Spielrein, as their relationship progresses from doctor and patient to something more difficult to define, or watch comfortably.  “Sometimes you have to do something unforgivable, just to be able to go on living,” says Jung as he trades letters and theories with Freud.  The three historical figures push and pull at each other in a dynamic, compelling rush toward sexual and intellectual discovery.

This film marks the third collaboration between director David Cronenberg and Viggo Mortensen, after “A History of Violence” and “Eastern Promises” (two well-acted and seriously violent films, not for the faint of heart).  It won awards from the National Board of Review, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, and the London Critics’ Circle, as well as several Genie Awards and a Saint Jordi Award.

An interesting tidbit: in the original casting, Christoper Waltz, the titillatingly creepy Nazi from “Inglorious Basterds” was slated to play Freud, Christian Bale to play Jung, and Julia Roberts to play Speilrein . . . just something to think about.

One of the few English-language selections in the Panama’s International Film Festival, “A Dangerous Method” will play at the Cinemark Multiplex during IFF’s week-long run, April 26-May2.  All foreign-language films will be subtitled in English.

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