A Dangerous Methodis a 2011 historical film directed by David Cronenberg and starring Viggo Mortensen , Michael Fassbender , Keira Knightley and Vincent Cassel . The screenplay was adapted by Academy Award -winning writer Christopher Hampton from his 2002 stage playThe Talking Cure, which was based on the 1993 non-fiction book by John Kerr,A Most Dangerous Method: the story of Jung, Freud, and Sabina Spielrein.

The film marks the third consecutive and overall collaboration between Cronenberg and Viggo Mortensen (afterA History of ViolenceandEastern Promises). This is also the third Cronenberg film made with British film producer Jeremy Thomas , after completing together the William Burroughs adaptationNaked Lunchand the J.G. Ballard adaptationCrash.A Dangerous Methodwas a German/Canadian co-production. The film premiered at The 68th Venice Film Festival and was also featured at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival .

Set on the eve of World War I ,A Dangerous Methodis based on the turbulent relationships between Carl Jung , founder of analytical psychology, Sigmund Freud , founder of the discipline of psychoanalysis, and Sabina Spielrein , initially a patient of Jung and later a physician and one of the first female psychoanalysts.^{[citation needed]}