The League of Austen Artists: Keira Knightley ('A Dangerous Method'), Charlize Theron ('Young Adult'), Elizabeth Olsen ('Martha Marcy May Marlene') are on the edge in award-contending roles.(LA Times)

Monday, January 9, 2012

Keira Knightley ('A Dangerous Method'), Charlize Theron ('Young Adult'), Elizabeth Olsen ('Martha Marcy May Marlene') are on the edge in award-contending roles.(LA Times)

Keira Knightley, top left, as Sabina Spielrein in "A Dangerous Method". Charlize Theron, right, as Mavis Gary in "Young Adult." Elizabeth Olsen, bottom left, as Martha in "Martha Marcy May Marlene."

January 05, 2012|By Hugh Hart, Special to the Los Angeles Times

Shortly after Russian hysteric Sabina Spielrein is carried kicking and screaming into a Swiss sanitarium, her new doctor, Carl Jung, primly inquires, "What are your interests?" Sabina, portrayed in "A Dangerous Method" by Keira Knightley, snarls in reply: "Suicide and interplanetary travel."

Some icebreaker!

Spastic and stammering, Sabina recovers after taking the "talking cure" administered by Jung (Michael Fassbender) under the guidance of his mentor Sigmund Freud (Viggo Mortensen). Over the course of the film, she embodies a character type highly coveted by Hollywood's finest actresses: Women on the Verge of Nervous Breakdowns

http://articles.latimes.com/2012/jan/05/news/la-en-women-verge-20120105