bch@mcnc.UUCP (Byron Howes) (10/29/84)
- - - mod.movies - - - - - - Volume 1, Issue 4 - - -
"Crimes of Passion"
reviewed by Peter Reiher
Ken Russell has always liked to outrage. He's been at it for
years. One might think that he would have run out of ways to offend
people by now, but he's still going strong. He was only mildly
controversial in his last film, "Altered States" (the best he could do
was a little light drug and sex stuff, but he did manage to make waves
by annoying the screenwriter, Paddy Chayefsky, so much that Chayefsky
removed his name from the film). Russell is back in the old "Women in
Love" and "The Devils" form. He's got them walking out of "Crimes of
Passion" outraged, just the way he likes it.
Russell manages this feat by a combination of explicit sexual
scenes and what may be the most foul language ever heard on the
screen. The latter is made even more shocking by the way it's used,
intermixed with Bible spoutings. Russell throws in a little Grand
Guignol, since he isn't really comfortable making a film without it,
and voila! Something to offend almost everybody.
"Crimes of Passion" is about love and sex, and particularly about
those who have problems with them. Well, that's most of us, but
Russell isn't interested in slight confusions and little hurts. We're
talking *real* problems here. The central character, played by
Kathleen Turner, is a glacially repressed fashion designer by day, and
a hooker by night. Anthony Perkins, playing a crazed street preacher,
is uncertain whether he wants to save Turner, screw her, or kill her.
Maybe all three. By contrast, John Laughlin's character is well off.
He's just stuck in a marriage without true love and has fallen for
Turner, who can only relate to men as tricks.
The plot concerns Laughlin's encounter with Turner, initiated when
he takes a night job as a private eye, spying on her to see if she's
selling industrial secrets. He discovers that she is doing something
far more unlikely. The straightlaced designer who freezes when she
talks to men becomes China Blue, a streetwalker, by night. China Blue
will perform any man's fantasy, for a price, and is always in control.
Laughlin is in the process of discovering that his wife doesn't really
enjoy sex with him, or for that matter, anything else they do
together. He finds out that what he really wants is Turner. But does
he want China Blue or the full woman, who is so schizophrenically
split? Can he bring the halves together?
Meanwhile, Anthony Perkins waits in the wings, playing a deranged,
self-proclaimed preacher. His sermons are the height of weirdness, as
fire and brimstone unexpectedly gives way to sexual fantasy expressed
in the most explicit terms. These speeches are one of the most
fascinating things about the film, and Perkins delivers them
brilliantly. Of course, we know from the moment we first lay eyes on
him that this preacher is crazy. After all, he's being played by
Anthony Perkins, and screen convention states that street preachers are
always crazy.
Eventually, the strange story begins to take some conventional
turns, which is rather a pity. In the end, there are no great
surprises. Barry Sandler's inability to find a suitable ending is
disappointing, but the dialog he has written is excellent throughout
and the situations have a strong central interest. Ken Russell's
direction is also fine, particularly in his handling of the actors.
Perkins' casting removed any chance of true suspense, but he plays the
role so well that one can't fault that. Laughlin is good as a self
described Boy Scout who suddenly finds himself taking a trip into the
bizarre. The real acting honors go to Kathleen Turner, though. She
takes incredible chances, and does things that many actresses would be
unwilling to do. Her character, while always interesting, is more
pitiable than admirable, and Turner does not try to portray her as just
a good girl gone wrong. She has major problems, and great confu-
sions. This role confirms Turner as one of the most important
actresses in Hollywood.
"Crimes of Passion" is also well supported by its cinemato-
grapher, who gives the film an appropriately sleazy look in
places, yet manages to show the beauty in even cheap, neon-lit hotel
rooms. Any cinematographer who can avoid the pitfall of making
inappropriately pretty pictures deserves praise. Making pictures which
are simultaneously garish and beautiful is an accomplishment. I fear I
do not have his name available, but whoever he is, he did a good job.
Not so Rick Wakeman, who composed, or rather plagiarized, the score.
The soundtrack is an electronic trashing of Dvorak's New World
Symphony, with three or four of its themes beaten relentlessly into the
ground. Dvorak isn't credited, which, under the circumstances, is the
way he would have wanted it. Wakeman is lucky that he already has a
reputation. If this were his first score, he would never get a chance
to compose another.
"Crimes of Passion" is definitely for adults only, R rating or
no. Russell fought many battles and made many cuts to prevent an X
rating, but what remains is still far more erotic than almost any other
Hollywood film ever made. I think that the film got its rating just
because the MPAA rating board was tired of fighting. I detected at
least one place where an obscenity had been looped out, but,
considering what was left, cleaning the film up this way was like
putting out a fire with an eyedropper. Those offended by explicit
sexual scenes, or by explicit sexual talk, or especially by the
juxtaposition of both with religion, would do well to avoid this film.
"Crimes of Passion" is definitely not for all tastes, and I expect that
many will disagree with my assessment, but I liked it. It has some,
though perhaps not enough, courage, and the filmmakers are willing to
address issues that many people wouldn't even talk about in private.
The execution doesn't match the intentions, but, considering how
ambitious the intentions were, that may have been too much to ask.
--
Peter Reiher
reiher@ucla-cs.arpa
{...ihnp4,ucbvax,sdcrdcf}!ucla-cs!reiher