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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Flawed But Interesting Art House Offering, 15 May 2006
Female Perversions, 1996. Dir Susan Streitfeld
Based on the best-selling feminist novel by Louise J. Kaplan, The Times newspaper reviewed this as "An elegant, dazzling, provocative film" All these points are true, but certainly need qualification.
The salacious title may suggest a knockabout sex romp, but if you buy it on that basis you'll be terribly disappointed. In reality this is an art house movie, bringing with it many recognisable traits of that genre, both good and bad.
The story centres on a high-powered female lawyer played - for the most part convincingly - by Tilda Swinton. The themes dealt with as the film unfolds are control, sexual desire, self-doubt, sibling relationship and self-destruction.
Incidental to this is the main characters open bisexuality.
As with many an art house film the plot is thin, though there is a unifying thread. The first half of the film has enough content to keep the viewer interested, but as the mood darkens the piece slows down. Expect something with the pace of, say, Paris Texas.
Cinematography and locations are at times stunning though inconsistent. Performances are strong but the director often creates a precious, self consciously arty atmosphere that can alienate the less forgiving viewer.
One jarring note is a rather amateur technical side. We are treated - incredibly - to an ever-present boom microphone visibly hovering above the characters heads, or reflected off shiny surfaces. I for one found this to be annoyingly distracting and struggled to remain engaged. The director Susan Streitfeld should hang her head in shame!
That aside, this film is worth a look at the price of under a fiver, if only for some of the stunning camera work. And it will get you thinking, unlike most Hollywood offerings. Students of film and cinematography buffs may especially gain something from it. Don't take my word - make up your own mind.
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26 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not quite what I expected, but worth a look, 29 April 2003
This review is from: Female Perversions [DVD] [1997] (DVD)
On the box is a quotation from a review in the Times newspaper: "An elegant, dazzling, provocative film" All these points are true, but with some qualification. The salacious title may suggest a knockabout sex romp, but in reality this is an art house movie. It brings with it many recognisable traits of that genre, both good and bad. The story centres on a high-powered female lawyer played - for the most part convincingly - by Tilda Swinton. The themes dealt with as the film unfolds are control, sexual desire, self-doubt, sibling relationship and self-destruction. Incidental to this is the main characters open bisexuality. As with many an art house film the plot is thin, though there is a unifying thread. The first half of the film has enough content to keep the viewer interested, but as the mood darkens the piece slows down. Expect something with the pace of say, Paris Texas, and you will not be disappointed. Cinematography and locations are at times stunning though inconsistent. Performances are strong but the director often creates a self consciously arty atmosphere that can alienate the less forgiving viewer. One jarring note was a rather amateur technical side. We are treated - incredibly -to an ever-present boom microphone visibly hovering above the characters heads, or reflected off shiny surfaces. The director Susan Streitfeld should hang her head in shame! The visual rendition on DVD is sumptuous though, albeit in 4:3 ratio. That aside, this film is worth a look at this price, if only for some of the stunning camera work. And it will get you thinking, unlike most Hollywood offerings. Students of film and cinematography buffs may especially gain something from it. Don't take my word - make up your own mind.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Curious but cold, 31 Mar 2011
On a technical note I didn't see the boom microphones that seem to have plagued the previous reviewer's enjoyment of this film; but there is a rather wooden staginess to this US feminist arthouse offering. Not even the wonderfully stylish and glamorous Tilda Swinton, who has been spreading herself rather thinly of late over mediocre Hollywood product, can quite give this film the injection of momentum it needs to really grip the attention. Swinton is the emotional and sexual powerhouse at the centre of the narrative as a fledgling judge in a male-dominated legal world which exposes her self-doubt and insecurity on a number of levels, some of which are symbolically played out in tableaux vivants: the most literal being a woman walking a tightrope; the most memorable being a mud-covered overweight lady with sagging breasts - go figure! Other women in the narrative display similar anxieties and curse their feelings of dependency on men, or otherwise extol the virtues of claiming to understand how men desire women; i.e. women understanding the male gaze for what it is - prurient voyeurism no less. But ultimately it's all a rather cold analytic exercise that seems weighed down by ideological baggage and lacks the fluidity and poetry of the best arthouse cinema. Even the very softcore erotic scenes (mostly lesbian) seem awkward and lacking in vigour. It has its moments of genuine interest but alas not too many.
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