(CNN) -- David Cronenberg's follow-up to 2007's "Eastern Promises" is an engrossing and brilliantly acted adaptation of Christopher Hampton's play "The Talking Cure" (itself based on John Kerr's book "A Most Dangerous Method"). It's centered around the real-life trio of psychiatrists Sigmund Freud (Viggo Mortensen), Carl Jung (Michael Fassbender) and Sabina Spielrein (Keira Knightley), a woman who is at first a patient and later a pioneer in psychoanalysis, herself. Lacking any of the dark or macabre trappings of many of Cronenberg's previous films ("Crash," "Dead Ringers"), "Method" is instead a romantic, bittersweet and ultimately tragic character-driven film, focusing on the deep friendship between Freud and Jung, as well as both men's relationship with Spielrein.
@highlight
Watching Keira Knightley cycle through shame, anger, arousal and relief is a pleasure
@highlight
Michael Fassbender's eventually heartbreaking work is largely one of subtlety
@highlight
It's an historical drama, a romance and the story of a professional friendship
Sabina Spielrein
Spielrein
A young, educated and extremely intelligent woman, @placeholder was the ideal patient for Jung to work with and he was soon getting results.
Keira Knightley
Keira Knightley
Most of those who have used phrases like "over the top" to describe @placeholder's performance have clearly misunderstood the meaning of the word "hysterical."
Sigmund Freud
Freud
Spielrein had endured a childhood rife with corporal punishment and humiliation at the hands of her father, and when Jung discovers a sexual element to her condition (she actually liked the spankings she received but was overcome by shame), it was clear to him that he had a case that confirmed @placeholder's theory of an underlying sexual connection to emotional disorders.
Viggo Mortensen
@placeholder's Freud is the elder statesman, arrogant at times but clearly happy to have an acolyte of such high intellectual ability, and Jung is grateful for the attention of the eminent doctor Freud.
Sigmund Freud
Freud
Mortensen's Freud is the elder statesman, arrogant at times but clearly happy to have an acolyte of such high intellectual ability, and Jung is grateful for the attention of the eminent doctor @placeholder.
Sabina Spielrein
Spielrein
The other key to the collapse of their professional and personal relationship is Jung's sexual relationship with @placeholder.
Carl Jung
Jung
It is a serious breach of ethics, a betrayal of his wife and, when @placeholder denies it in a letter to Freud, a stain on his integrity.
The Talking Cure
"@placeholder" is another example of how many true-life stories are out there that can be made into compelling and moving cinema.
David Cronenberg
Cronenberg
@placeholder is a master director at the top of his game, and "A Dangerous Method" is a film where the beauty is in the performances, language and ideas.