9 1/2 Weeks

"How did you know I would respond to you the way I have." Elizabeth

☆☆☆☆☆ Classic 

9 1/2 Weeks (1986) is an erotic tale that explores human sexual desires and its effect on its participants.

Directed by Adrien Lyne from Elizabeth McNeill's novel 9 1/2 Weeks.

Starring Kim Basinger, Mickey Rourke, Margaret Whitton.

The three major components to why this film works is Adrien's subtle and stylish direction, Mickey and Kim chemistry and its use of visual and musical cues. Lyne does not use sex as the story as Nagisa Oshima did in Ai No Korida - In The Realm of The Sense (1976). Instead, Adrien uses sex to explore the ramifications of unbridled addiction and voyeurism. Lyne, let's Kim slowly fall apart emotionally, while allowing Mickey to gain more control over Basinger. As an audience member I felt I was taking a journey with the cast. Basinger and Rourke are magnetic in this film. Each draws you into their side of the story. It helped me to have empathy for both character's side of their behavior. Adrien's use of color and sound cues the audience and propels the narrative forward. The colors in the film get darker and the music grows more ominous as the film progresses. The director and cast successfully walked a fine line with the story and performances and pulled off what few films in the erotic genre have ever achieved.

Mickey's strength as an actor is his ability to open up and allow the audience to see deep into his soul. Rourke gets his audience to have empathy with his dark characters and their bad intentions and behavior's. Kim is really a joy to watch in this film. I'm glad Lyne saw Kim's intelligence and let her color her character with wit and charm.

In the scene below watch how Mickey seduces Kim with his sense of humor. Rourke manages to turn a self indulgent, narcissistic prick into a seductive, funny and fallible human being. Watch how Kim becomes the straight man to Mickey's comedic sidekick. Each let's the other take over the side at key moments. Rarely do I see actor's work with such precision and timing. Kim outdoes Mickey by opening her soul to Rourke and the audience when she looks first surprise then happy that Mickey finds her "So fucking beautiful". It looks like it's the first time in Basinger's life where she actually believes that someone finds her beautiful.

Film Scene

Trivia - Lyne shot the movie sequentially to highlight Kim's gradual emotional breakdown and keep her unbalanced throughout production.

Film Trailer

Film Transcript

Ai No Korida - In The Realm Of The Senses

"A Girl like you can stab a man's heart without a knife, huh?" Kichizo to Sada

☆☆☆☆☆ Masterpiece


Ai No Korida - In the Realm of the Senses (1976) takes erotic passion to the outer limits.

Directed by Nagisa Oshima.

Starring Tatsuya Fuji and Eiko Matsuda.

Ai No Korida, is as close as you can come to a feature film being porno. From the beginning this film dives into full, real sex and never looks back. The most amazing thing is that there is a deep and disturbing story lurking in the background that slowly emerges from within the sex. Each sexual encounter gets more intense, fetish and dangerous.

Nagisa pulls off the impossible by keeping the film sex from venturing into pornography. A feature film whose sex scene repeatedly cross into porno is La Vie D 'Adele - Blue Is The Warmest Color (2013) directed by Abdellatif Kechiche. Oshima avoids pornographic territory in his sex scenes, because the graphic sex is the story. Abdellatif's sex scenes have nothing to do with the his story. If you removed the sex scene's from Abdellatif's film it would not effect the story in the least. If you remove or shorten any sex scenes from Nagaisa's film you lose the story and narrative.

The lead actors Tatsuya Fuji and Eiko Matsuda do an extraordinary job of revealing their inner selves through their sexual encounters. As an actor who has done many love scenes without going into real sex I found myself thinking about the research needed for the role. Sex scenes are as hard as comedy in terms of timing and subtext. If done wrong it looks fake and audience members will know, because they are human and have done sex many times before. In this case the sex is real, so as an actor you have to really open up your inner self, as well as your physical self.  The sex in each scene are real and graphic, so it will have to have meaning for you and your scene partner, so the audience can relate to the sex. As an actor I would only do a film role like this if I trusted the director to guide me. I would trust my scene partner to let go and go as far as I would dare go physically and mentally. I can't tell you how many times a director has had to recast a role, because actors could not get fully nude on a public stage. Think its easy to do a love scene in your birthday suit? Go ask your sister or brother to do a sex scene with you and have your mom or dad direct you both in front of your neighbors and relatives and friends. I have to tip my hat to Nagisa, Tatsuya and Eiko for making such a brave, open and utterly mesmerizing film. Ai No Korida - In The Realm of The Senses should be in your film library. Enjoy!

Film Scene

Trivia - The film is based on a real story that happened in Japan in 1936.

Film Trailer