BEFORE: I probably should have watched this one in 2014, along with other films about authors and poets, like "Sylvia", "Shadowlands" and "Julia". But I don't think I had a copy then, or I would have. But I did schedule it as part of the romance chain this past February, but it didn't link directly to any of those other films, plus I needed to cut something so the topic would fit in the short month. Finally it finds a place here, between another Uma Thurman film and another Kevin Spacey film.
THE PLOT: In 1931 Paris, Anais Nin meets Henry Miller and his wife June. Intrigued by them both, she begins expanding her sexual horizons with her husband Hugo as well as with Henry and others.
AFTER: This film has a reputation because it was the first film to receive a rating of NC-17. It was really the cause of that rating being created, because there was a movie theater in Massachusetts that got pressure from town officials because it was initially rated "X", and ultimately they did not screen it. That theater was the Showcase Cinema in Dedham, MA - and I had worked there about two summers before that, at the concession stand. I wasn't surprised at all when I heard the news, because suburban Massachusetts wasn't really known for its progressiveness at the time. Something clearly changed in the following decades, because Massachusetts later became the first state to legalize same-sex marriage. (Which sort of makes sense, because back in the days of the pilgrims, it was the first state to legalize no-sex marriage.)
The theater is now gone, they bulldozed it about a decade ago (I took pictures) and there's a mall there now called Legacy Place. I've been back a couple times to play pool at a bowling alley there, and they did build a new Showcase theater on the property, but I bet no one who works there is aware of the location's place in film rating history.
Anyway, the rating was just that, a rating, and the Dedham town selectmen picketed the film without ever watching it. The laugh's on them, because according to the IMDB, the film was not rated X because of all the girl-on-girl sex, it got rated X because at the start of the film, Anaïs Nin is seen looking at some erotic postcards, and one of those has a drawing of a Japanese woman in bed with a squid. A drawing. Again, from a state that loves seafood as much as Massachusetts does, you'd think they'd be OK with something like that.
I freely admit that I rented this film once before, but I only watched a few scenes. You can probably guess which ones - but I'm still repenting for movie sins like that by going back and watching the film around the sexy scenes. In this case, it turns out I made the right call. Outside of the naughty bits, this film just isn't that interesting. Do I care, in the end, about the affairs of a bunch of writers? Not really, unless they're super-famous like Hemingway, their lives and loves don't really float my boat. Toss in a bunch of hard-to-understand French accents and an even worse Brooklyn accent coming from Uma Thurman, and I can feel my mind starting to wander.
The filmmakers tried their best to keep the clichéd shots of writers writing to a minimum - there are only a few scenes where Henry Miller is seen typing, then pulling the sheet of paper from the manual typewriter and instantly recognizing that he's typed something genius, and there are no shots of writers staring at a typewriter or a blank sheet of paper, not knowing what to write. But there is the hackneyed scene where a large manuscript is thrown up in the air (by a person or the wind, same result) and the pages are thus jumbled in order. Because no writers in movies believe in the use of paper clips or staples.
I was never really sure about the pronunciation of Anaïs Nin's name. Is it AHH-nais or ANN-iss? Turns out it's neither, the correct pronunciation appears to be Ahn-ay-ees. But throughout the whole film, Henry Miller keeps calling her "ANN-iss". Was this intentional, to suggest that he never bothered to learn to say her name right, or a case of the actor playing him never being able to say it correctly? (For that matter, when we're talking about the spice named anise, should I say "ANN-iss" or "Ahh-NICE"? People on the Food Network seem to alternate, and they really need to get their people on the same page. Same for "JY-ros" or "JEE-ros" or "YEE-ros", and don't get me started on Worcestershire sauce. It's not hard, just say "WUSS-ter-sheer". Simple - the towns in Massachusetts and the U.K. are both pronounced "WUSS-ter". Even if you make a joke out of it and say, "Wor-chest-er-sheer", it's not funny, you just sound ignorant.)
Anyway, the real point here is that 1931 Paris was apparently another hotbed of liberalism, at least for authors and people with money to spend on adult entertainment. They didn't have the wonders of the internet, so if they wanted to see something kinky, they had to either do it themselves, or go out and pay somebody to do it while they watched. (Which raises the question, what was kinky back then, and what's considered kinky now, in this post-internet age? What haven't we seen by now, after stars have released sex tapes and reality TV stars are doing hardcore porn?)
But even back then, I can see the double-standard - if a married man spent the night with a beautiful prostitute, he was a cheater and a filthy pig. But if a woman did the same thing with the same woman, she was "having an experience" or "exploring her sexuality". This film practically celebrates Anaïs Nin for being a free spirit and falling in love with people other than her husband, while villainizing Henry Miller for doing the same. Hey, if you want true gender equality, these are the little distinctions that are going to need to be ironed out. All people need to be held equally accountable for their actions, or allowed to explore in the same fashion. Explaining that a woman wants love when a man wants sex is not a valid excuse.
Whether it was from bad writing or from bad acting, I'm left with very little understanding of the true nature of the relationship between Henry and June. Perhaps because the movie spent more time on Henry and Anaïs, and also on June and Anaïs. (The fourth part of the love quadrangle, Anaïs' husband, Hugo, is conveniently absent for most of the film.) June is portrayed as Henry's lover and champion of his work, but also as a possible liar and con artist. Late in the film, when she's making out with Anaïs, she pretends to hear someone approaching, and the best scene in the film is thus over too quickly. So, was she leading Anaïs on, was that part of the con, or did she have genuine feelings for her and was unable to consummate the relationship? We'll never know, because shortly after that, she discovers that Henry and Anaïs are lovers, and she doesn't take it well. But that's another double standard, right? Like, it's OK for her to fool around, but her husband better not!
Also starring Fred Ward (last seen in "2 Guns"), Maria de Medeiros, Kevin Spacey (last seen in "Shrink"), Richard E. Grant (last seen in "The Iron Lady"), Jean-Philippe Ecoffey, with a cameo from Gary Oldman (last seen in "Lost in Space")
RATING: 4 out of 10 female contortionists
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