Literary HackHenry and June: The First NC-17 Rated Movie
October 4th 2009 14:48
I watched Henry and June the other day. The movie is based on the diary of Parisian author Anais Nin and chronicles Nin's (Maria de Medeiros) romantic and lustful affairs with both the famous American author Henry Miller (Fred Ward) and his wife June (Uma Thurman). Nin is unsatisfied with her sex life and unhappy she cannot find what she is looking for in her husband, Hugo (Robert E. Grant). When Henry Miller goes to stay with Anais and Hugo, Anais is instantly attracted to his sexual masculinity and bravado. Her attraction to Henry eventually leads to Anais lusting for Henry's wife, June. When June heads back to work in the States, Nin and Miller start a wildly passionate affair. Through the affair Nin continues to explore herself sexually through Hugo as well as other men along the way. Throughout those years in the 1930's, Nin successfully chronicles the relationships which is later published and Henry Miller writes the classic book, The Tropic of Cancer.
Henry and June was the first movie to receive a NC-17 rating over the former X rating. The reason for this is not the multitude of sex scenes, including the handful between de Medeiros and Thurman, but for a three second shot early on in the film depicting a sexually explicit photo of a Japanese woman and a squid.
Maybe I just didn't understand the movie. Maybe it wasn't what I expected. Perhaps it was just a bad movie. Regardless, after it was finished, I was left with a feeling somewhere between perplexed and unsettled. Instead of this movie being a captivating and romantic movie describing relationships as well as the people in them, this movie ended up being little more than a soft-core porn. The movie was beautifully choreographed and shot, but that was the only thing excelling in the film. From what I could see, Ward failed to capture the deep and intellectual Henry Miller, instead concentrating on, and subsequently, overdramatizes both his robustness and his insecurities. de Medeiros was a very gorgeous, but uninspiring actress throughout the film.
The movie was two hours of lust and sex scenes. Rather than capture the essence of the characters, Henry and June is instead relegated to beautifying adultery and condoning deceit. I'm not sure that alone would make for a bad movie, but I for one feel like director Phillip Kaufman missed the point of Nin's journal: sexual exploration was Nin's vehicle for self-discovery and human enlightenment. Kaufman merely shows the diary as Nin's version of intense sexual desire for pleasure and pleasure alone.
Henry and June was the first movie to receive a NC-17 rating over the former X rating. The reason for this is not the multitude of sex scenes, including the handful between de Medeiros and Thurman, but for a three second shot early on in the film depicting a sexually explicit photo of a Japanese woman and a squid.
Maybe I just didn't understand the movie. Maybe it wasn't what I expected. Perhaps it was just a bad movie. Regardless, after it was finished, I was left with a feeling somewhere between perplexed and unsettled. Instead of this movie being a captivating and romantic movie describing relationships as well as the people in them, this movie ended up being little more than a soft-core porn. The movie was beautifully choreographed and shot, but that was the only thing excelling in the film. From what I could see, Ward failed to capture the deep and intellectual Henry Miller, instead concentrating on, and subsequently, overdramatizes both his robustness and his insecurities. de Medeiros was a very gorgeous, but uninspiring actress throughout the film.
The movie was two hours of lust and sex scenes. Rather than capture the essence of the characters, Henry and June is instead relegated to beautifying adultery and condoning deceit. I'm not sure that alone would make for a bad movie, but I for one feel like director Phillip Kaufman missed the point of Nin's journal: sexual exploration was Nin's vehicle for self-discovery and human enlightenment. Kaufman merely shows the diary as Nin's version of intense sexual desire for pleasure and pleasure alone.
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