Keira Knightley's 'A Dangerous Method' premieres at the Venice Film Festival

Keira Knightley's new movie A Dangerous Method premiered Friday at the Venice Film Festival, where her acting was a common topic among the many critics.

A Dangerous Method by David Cronenberg is about the friendship between Sigmund Freud (Viggo Mortensen) and Carl Jung (Michael Fassbender) and Sabina (Knightley), the student/patient that came in between that friendship.

The movie is based on a play by Christopher Hampton, which in turn, is based on a book by John Kerr, reports The Guardian.

According to the LA Times, Cronenberg is usually known for his passion for gore in films, but this movie seems to stay away from the usual gore, as it delves into the realm of early psychoanalysis.

There seems to be equal praise and negativity for Knightley's role as the Russian patient that Freud and Jung set out to help as they attempt to lay claim in the field of psychoanalysis.

Justin Chung, a writer at Variety, said that overall the film was "elegant" and "coolly restrained," but found some issues with Knightley's performance.

"Rather less assured, and initially the film's most problematic element, is Knightley, whose brave but unskilled depiction of hysteria at times leaves itself open to easy laughs," he said. "The spectacle of the usually refined actress flailing about, taking on a grotesque underbite, and stammering and wailing in a Russian accent is perhaps intended to clash with her costars' impeccable restraint, but does so here in unintended ways. But as Sabina's condition improves, so does Knightley's performance."

Xan Brooks, writer for The Guardian, also gave a negative review but said, "Knightley provides the Oscar bait."

David Gritten, writer for The Telegraph gives the credit to Cronenberg for Knightley's performance, "[He] has coaxed a performance from Knightley so ferocious in these early scenes that it seems likely to become the film's main talking point. It’s also a risky strategy, as Sabina’s behaviour is extreme to the point of being alienating."

Despite what seems to be mostly negative, Todd McCarthy from The Hollywood Reporter praised Knightley for her performance, "Knightley's excellent work as a character with a very long emotional arc."

"Screaming and alarmingly jutting out her jaw in extremis, Knightley starts at a pitch so high as to provoke fear of where she'll go from there. Fortunately, the direction is down; as her character, under Jung's fastidious care, gradually gets a grip on her issues and can assess herself with a measure of intellectual composure, the performance modulates into something fully felt and genuinely impressive," McCarthy added.

The film is set to debut at the Toronto International Film Festival next week .