(Credit: www.buy.com)
Writer/Director:
Bill Condon
Cast:
Liam Neeson……….Alfred Kinsey
Laura Linney……….Clara McMillen
Chris O’Donnell……….Wardell Pomeroy
Peter Sarsgaard……….Clyde Martin
Timothy Hutton……….Paul Gebhard
John Lithgow……….Alfred Seguine Kinsey
Tim Curry……….Thurman Rice
Oliver Platt……….Herman Wells
Dylan Baker……….Alan Gregg
Fox Searchlight Pictures presents a N1 European Film Produktions/American Zoetrope/Pretty Pictures production. Running time: 118 minutes. Rated R (for pervasive sexual content, including some graphic images and descriptions.)
The movie:
People are not easy to categorize. Some people are tall while others are short. We are inundated with labels such as Caucasian or African-American. Our ever-changing culture has also affected our habits, our moods, our beliefs. Even a person’s sexual lifestyle is difficult to classify. In the 1940s, a sexual researcher changed the way people thought about sex. In 1947, Dr. Alfred C. Kinsey published the first scientific study of human sexual behavior. He disproved the rumors that masturbation causes blindness or that homosexuality is a rare occurrence. One in three men have had at least one homosexual experience. Sexual intercourse did not limit itself to just marriage; there are many instances of premarital and extramarital sex.
Dr. Kinsey’s sex behavior study didn’t jump start the sexual revolution; it illustrated that sex is a real occurrence and no longer a taboo subject. Sure, sitcoms from the ’50s and ’60s deluded us into believing that the sexual act couldn’t transpire. When the children are in bed, though, I bet mom and dad move the nightstand and push their twin-size beds together.
Kinsey is an interesting biography of the Indiana University professor. With Liam Neeson in the title role, his performance shows Kinsey as a complicated man. His beliefs centered on the science of sex and not the philosophy behind it. Without knowing much about human nature, Kinsey was unaware of the implications sex can have on people. An extramarital affair alone can make for strange bedfellows.
An interesting debate is how Dr. Kinsey found interest in studying the sexual act. When he was younger he would spend hours in a forest near his home drawing woodland creatures. His experiences as a youth would drive him to study biology, much to the chagrin of his father (John Lithgow). As a Protestant minister, Kinsey’s father never thought much of his son’s interest in studying the gall wasp; he believed it was a bunch of nonsense. Twenty years of research and one million wasps later Kinsey concluded that no two wasps were alike – even the offspring bared no resemblance to the parent. This discovery and a comment made by his wife Clara (Laura Linney) prompted him to change directions and study human sexuality.
Though, it’s possible to wonder if something else played a role in his decision to research the sexual behavior. Dr. Kinsey’s upbringing had an inherent effect on his decision to explore sexual intercourse. Kinsey reveals during his own sexual history study that he does not attend church, but he did attend a Protestant church until the age of nineteen. Also, both Kinsey and his wife were virgins when they married and unsure what to do in the bedroom.
Hundreds of students gathered for Dr. Kinsey’s introductory lecture on human sexuality. For his first lesson he discusses the six stages of the coital sequence: Stimulation, Lubrication, Erection, Increased Sensitivity, Orgasm and Nervous Release. During this lecture Kinsey was detached from his students, standing in front of the class. Later, as the study is being conducted, he would walk the aisles getting more intimate with his students.
With the help of his research staff, Kinsey collected the sexual histories of thousands of Americans. Besides written case studies, the research staff would have sex with multiple partners and record their findings. In one study conducted by Dr. Kinsey and his assistant Wardell Pomeroy (Chris O’Donnell), the subject reveals he has had sex more than a thousand times. The sexual debauchery included animals, family members, and children.
Watching this film, it’s possible to think of the implications of sex. This research subject’s sexual sickness makes can make one question Dr. Kinsey when he says, “Everybody’s sin is nobody’s sin. And everybody’s crime is no crime at all.” The fact that sex is nothing more than friction between two individuals is an incorrect assumption. About the topic of love and sex, Kinsey believes love is not a factor in sex because it cannot be measured scientifically.
He may have redefined the way we view sexual behavior, Dr. Kinsey will always be better at analyzing people’s inhibitions than he will at being a humanist.
Bill Condon’s film doesn’t promote sexual exploration as being good or bad. He presents sex in an objective point of view as something that occurs naturally. The pervasive use of sexual jargon and graphic images may alienate some viewers, but its presence instills in all of us that sex is everywhere, more prevalent now than any other time in history.
Score: 9/10
THE DVD:
VIDEO: How does it look?
There is a look and feel to Kinsey that makes it one of the best-photographed films of 2004. The film makes good use of black-and-white images and color. The blacks and facial hues are clearly defined during the feature. Besides the colors, the video transfer is also pleasant to view; hardly any digital artifacts or edge enhancement problems. The only real problem is that some of the images had a hound’s-tooth quality to them, causing a mild video effect. Kinsey has its original widescreen presentation (2.35:1) and it is enhanced for 16 x 9 televisions.
Score: 8.5/10
AUDIO: How does it sound?
It’s surprising that this independent release by Fox Searchlight Pictures is given a 5.1 DTS soundtrack, since the film is dialogue heavy. Still, there are scenes where classic orchestrations and songs by Ella Fitzgerald play and the DTS helps emphasize the melody. The DTS also helps when people sound muted while expressing their sexual histories. In addition to the DTS soundtrack, the DVD has included a Dolby 5.1 mix and Dolby 2.0 soundtracks in Spanish and French.
Score: 8/10
SPECIAL FEATURES: A commentary track by director Bill Condon, deleted scenes, and an interactive sex questionnaire!
Spread over two discs, the set comes with all sorts of interesting extras.
Bill Condon started work on Kinsey after he received a box with material about Dr. Alfred Kinsey’s life in 1999. While listening to the commentary track Condon tells why he isn’t a big fan of biopics; they try to focus on the person’s life instead of a moment in time. Condon’s film Gods and Monsters explores three weeks of director James Whale’s life. For the duration of the commentary track, he tells stories on the making of the film. He admits Laura Linney was the first person cast for the film, which is odd. Usually you would expect the central character to be the first person cast. The visual motif is another interesting aspect. Pay attention to the boxes and squares.
On Disc 2, there is an 83-minute documentary entitled The Kinsey Report: Sex on Film. For this special feature, Condon explains his motivation for wanting to tell this story. He goes on about the cinematography and music of Kinsey, in addition to telling the viewers that Dr. Kinsey’s lecture hall is the same one used in Spider-man 2. Joining Condon are sound bites from the cast and crew. Probably the neatest aspect about this extra is that individuals on the film’s set are asked sexually explicit questions.
There are 21 deleted scenes (about twenty-four in all) that can be heard with or without Bill Condon’s comments. Most of the deleted footage are scene extensions or scenes that wouldn’t work in the film. The “training the team” scene involves Dr. Kinsey training his three assistants on how to accurately collect the sex histories of volunteers. Condon loved this scene because of the way Chris O’Donnell interacts with Martin (Peter Sarsgaard). He was disappointed that the scene had to end up on the cutting room floor.
Sex. Ed at the Kinsey Institute has Catherine Johnson-Roehr, the curator for the Kinsey Institute, leading a tour of the Sex Education exhibition that took place between October 20, 2004 and February 11, 2005.
Despite the feature-length documentary, the greatest interactive experience is a sex questionnaire. After a brief introduction viewers are encouraged to answer 45 questions to determine how easily they are aroused and how easily they are inhibited.
A gag reel, the film’s teaser and theatrical trailer, and a trailer for What the Bleep Do We Know!? complete this special edition release.
Score: 8.5/10
