Keira Knightley gives what could be an Oscar winning performance in David Cronenberg’s “A Dangerous Method,” a visually erotic film about the classic meeting between Sigmund Freud and rival shrink Carl Jung.

Sony Pictures Classics released the first international trailer today (June 23), and Viggo Mortensen, Michael Fassbender and Vincent Cassel add their talents to the incredible story of the early days of psychoanalysis.

Of course, many of Freud’s observations about human nature have been widely discredited, but during his era his theories about behavior were groundbreaking.

Check out the movie stills; click to enlarge.

Based on the 1993 non-fiction book “A Most Dangerous Method” by John Kerr, the film is the third consecutive collaboration between Cronenberg and Mortensen.

It set on the eve of World War I, when psychiatrists Jung (Fassbender) and mentor Freud (Mortensen) collaborate on the case of Sabina Spielrein (Knightley), a beautiful but troubled young woman who is seriously sexually repressed and mentally ill.

Sarah Gadon also stars as Emma Jung, who must compete for her husbands affections has he becomes obsessed and ultimately invovled with Spielrein.

The film looks like it could be as dark and erotic as “Black Swan.” Natalie Portman won the best actress Oscar for her portrayal of a disturbed ballet dancer.

Check it out below.