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Sigmund Freud is the most famous psychologist of all time, and Carl Jung is probably his best-known protege. Both men were fascinated by sexual desires, what caused and created them, and sought to analyze these desires and their psychological impetuses. At the same time, Jung is tempted by a sexual affair with one of his patients, a young woman named Sabrina Spielrein who is being driven insane by her own sexual urges. Spielrein (played by Keira Knightley) admits to Jung that from a very early age she would become aroused by humiliation, particularly at the hands of her father, and the very thought of receiving physical pain arouses her. Jung takes on Spielrein as a patient, but her aptitude for psychology leads her to becoming his colleague, and the connection between the two of them tempts him to begin an affair with her.

Shame is set in modern-day New York City, exploring the life of a successful, handsome and well-off businessman named Brandon. Unbeknownst to his friends and colleagues, Brandon is suffering from a serious sexual addiction. He spends his days looking at internet pornography in his office and masturbating in the bathroom. At night he either goes to a bar to pick up a stranger or simplifies the process by calling a prostitute. When Brandon's sister, Sissy (Carey Mulligan) visits him, she disrupts his ordered world, which is based entirely around fulfilling his sexual urges. By seeing her live, perform (she is a singer), and have one-night stands happily, it forces him to confront his own guilt, causing him to hate himself more and take his anger out on her.

The Scripts

A Dangerous Method is a dialogue-heavy film, mainly because all of the main characters are academics and their subject is sexual desire. Writer Christopher Hampton also penned the screenplays for Dangerous Liaisons and Atonement, and is clearly used to exploring his characters' sexual desires, but here he is given free reign, and the result is perhaps the best script he's ever written. These characters are trying to both analyze the actions of other people and trying to understand the urges within themselves. The conversations between Freud and Jung are mesmerizing; both men are able to express their thoughts around a like-minded colleague for the first time, and leave no stone unturned. As their relationship develops, pride and ego start to drive them apart, especially when rumors of Jung's affair with Spielrein start to spread.

The discussions between Jung and Spielrein are equally compelling, especially because their judgment is clouded by their desire for each other. Spielrein's development as a character is perhaps the best part of the movie. Once she realizes that her guilt over her lust is what is driving her madness she is able to free herself from it by studying it. When she decides to seduce Jung, another layer is added to her character, and when Jung ends their affair, she again starts to break down, heartbroken and vengeful. In contrast to these three troubled, overly-analytical characters is Otto Gross, a hedonist who gives in to all of his urges and attempts to convince Jung to do the same. If Freud is the Superego, trying to control Jung with talk of propriety and decency, then Gross is the ego, promoting acceptance of all urges, particularly sexual ones, as natural and good.

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