Thank you so much, Bob Pr., for bringing so much intelligence to the few threads I have thus far read on this board. Without being demeaning or condescending to others in these threads, who obviously just did not have the knowledge needed to properly process this film, you bring facts and personal experiences. This particular thread, initiated by you, also produced some of the best responses - from frida_k, PoppyTransfusion, Skoolpsyk and Neuronhead.
But while this information on mental illness is invaluable, I also think what some people who criticize Knightly's performance have failed to take into account is that she had a director. Cronenberg is the father of body horror. (For more, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_horror.) His movie Dead Ringers concerns a doctor who tortures women with nauseatingly horrific gynecological instruments. Crash is about people who are obsessed with getting off sexually by being in auto accidents. He's a director who himself is somewhat obsessed with sexuality, pain, and obsession -- and often their intersection -- with the complex human psyche causing behaviors which are completely inexplicable to those not similarly afflicted.
A Dangerous Method is arguably Cronenberg's most tame film to date -- necessitated by that fact that it is historically based. And although many of the particulars in private scenes of the film are the product of Cronenberg's imagination, the framework remains true to the real people who inhabit the film. He showed brilliance in choosing to make this film, which deals with his films' recurring themes - sex, pain, obsession - and the genesis of psychoanalysis, the beginnings of humanity attempting to make sense of them and attempt to cure them. Cronenberg loves to explore how the inner workings of a twisted psyche manifest themselves physically, and Knightly's performance eloquently expresses just that. I would not discount Cronenberg's influence on Knightly's performance. Those that choose to criticize it should give some blame to him and those that praise it, as I do, owe him some of the credit.
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Bob Pr.
11 years ago
And thank you, soo_z_g, for points well made and well taken.
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AlexSefton
11 years ago
I also would like to thank you, Bob Pr., for the same reasons said by soo_z_g.
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samantha3
11 years ago
The director commented at the time that he worked closely with KK to tune her performance to what might realistically be expected of such a patient at the time. He mentioned that she said she was willing to take it further if he wanted, but he thought she got it right as he filmed it. He was pleased with her work.
And David Cronenberg definitely knows what he is doing is portraying characters in mental and emotional turmoil, as other posters have pointed out here.
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marielapenn
9 years ago
i think it was what Cronenberg wanted (he's into the grotesque and that's why he liked how extreme it was).
but i also think it was because it was her doing it- i think a less well known actress would not have provoked the same criticism. but when you see someone you're very familiar with doing something that extreme on screen, i think most people just aren't able to accept it, frankly.
you accept it of a character actor, someone who disappears into every different role, like Daniel Day-Lewis. you don't accept it from a person who normally plays closer to themselves, because it's a different kind of acting.
i think she deserves credit for trying it, and i do think it's what Cronenberg wanted from her- but i watched it with somebody who just couldn't see anything but "Keira Knightley trying to act like a crazy person"- which isn't something i think people would have said of an unknown actress
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samantha3
9 years ago
DC may be "into the groteque," -- not going to argue that one -- but in this case he was also into realism. That's what hysteria could look like. It's not even as extreme as hysteria could become (smeared feces, and self-mutilation, anyone?)
As for having a famous actor do the role, I suspect that like many others, KK would have done almost any role for DC. Good actors clamor to work with him, because they know he always lets them show their best work, and does his best to use all of it he can in the finished film. More than one has said they wouldn't even want to read the script first. That's partly because they trust DC to cast them only if he thinks they are right and up to the job. I think KK ws straining a bit -- oddly enough, not in her hysteria acenes but later -- to keep up with he fellow actors, but she did the best job of acting I have seen her do as yet. She let herself be cast in too many roles wrong for her before this one, roles she couldn't yet manage, if only because she was too young. This role was better, and she did much better with it. As with many beautiful young actors, her looks draw many fans who hated to see her look ugly in the way the role demanded. It clearly didn't bother her, which makes me think her later career might be interesting. It is difficult especially for a beautiful woman to develop into a character actor in film, where just when they get experience the roles dry up because of their age.
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Revolutionow
9 years ago
This^
People are misunderstanding Cronenberg's intentions if they think that they weren't supposed to have such a visceral reaction to her performance.
I thought she was brilliant.
ce n est pas une image juste, ce st juste une image
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