Love Crimes

The concept of the legal gray area in Love Crimes contributes to about 10% of the movie's appeal; the other 90% can be attributed to it's flagrant bad-ness. To say that Sean Young's performance as a so-called district attorney is wooden is a gross understatement. With her bland suits and superfluous hair gel, Young does a decent job at convincing the audience of her devout hatred for men. Why else would she ask her only friend to pose as a prostitute just so she can arrest cops who try to pick up on them? This hatred is also the only reason why she relentlessly pursues a perverted photographer who gives women a consensual thrill and the driving force behind this crappy movie. Watching Young go from frigid to full-frontal nudity does little to raise interest, but the temper tantrum she throws standing next to a fire by a lake does. Watching her rant and rave about her self-loathing and sexual frustration makes Love Crimes worth the rental fee, but it's all downhill to and from there. Despite her urge to bring Patrick Bergin's character to justice, her policing skills completely escape her in the throes of her own tired lust and passion. Patrick Bergin does a decent enough job as a slimy sociopath; if it worked in Sleeping With the Enemy it sure as hell can work in this. But I can't help but wonder if the noticeable lack of energy Young brings to the film conflicts with his sliminess. I'm guessing it does and the result is a "thriller" with thrills that are thoroughly bad and yet comedic.

This review is for the UNRATED version. The R-rated version would merit a *1/2 out of 4 rating.

Slick thriller about a female district attorney (Sean Young) who uses herself as bait to lure in a con man (Patrick Bergen) who seduces woman and then forces them to do inexplicable acts. Intelligent, extremely thought provoking with a perfect performance from Sean Young. Most people call her turn wooden, because most people have only seen the awful R-rated version which edits out some important scenes. Here, her aloofness works because the con man has traumatized her and forced her into a little girl state of mind. Young's turn is complex and underrated. Her tall body and ballerina build only make her performance all the more convincing. Patrick Bergen is also very good. Sure he may not be very handsome, but the women he picks up are plain looking everyday women that could easily fall into his trap. His smooth dialogue and mannerisms make this turn work.

Film also goes where most other films would not dare to go to. There is on screen fetish scenes (involving spankings and horses), full frontal nudity, and graphic sexual situations. All of this plays key parts to the story and move the action along. None of these scenes are done for just the thrill of it. The only thing that hurts the film is the rushed ending. It just doesn't cut it. For such a smart thriller one can only naturally feel extremely disappointed. The story is progressing and then boom the ending just comes out of nowhere. Still this is a noteworthy film worth watching.

Unrated; Graphic Nudity and Sexual Situations, Strong Adult Themes, Violence and Profanity.

Lizzie Borden, if that is her real name, attempts to direct a passionate, sexual thriller about seduction and love. Besides moments of nudity and sexual overtones, the movie falls flat on its face. Sean Young attracts an audience to see this mild excuse for a thriller. A low budget, none-the-less, Love Crimes is a story of passion, without the passion. While Sean Young is still learning how to act and the carry a film, Patrick Bergin, the evil husband from Sleeping with the Enemy, is five times a better actor than Young. However, it is Young who draws the audience to see her naked. Although she is not a super model or a top ten actress, Sean Young represents the average, everyday woman with the average figure. It is that audience, viewer make up, that is attracted to these movies. For that reason, Love Crimes has an audience but not much of a fan base.

I had to view this film again, just to make sure I was reviewing the same film. Unfortunately, this film was made in America's matriarchal society.

This is the story of a man that puts women in touch with their inner sexual feelings. It is repeated several times that he has committed no crime. In fact, in Europe, this man would be admired, in America the reverse it true. This is a film about stalking and entrapment, and if you head isn't on backwards, you will understand the same person does both.

The worst thing about the film are the psychological flashbacks. Much like Marnie, but not as bad. This sort of passing blame to parents is unforgivable.

Sean Young and Patrick Bergen are seasoned B film actors, don't expect a big production. But the film is adequate to pass the message if you "get it".

If you like the drift of this film, a more sophisticated version can be found in "Night Porter" with Dirk Bogarde and even the original French version of "The Story of O". These European films treat the subject matter in a far more logical manner.

Does a woman become exquisitely androgynous when her hair is cut short and combed like a man's, and she is made to look boyish? Hell, yeah! At least, as long as she has her clothes on. For an erotic psychological thriller, try "Love Crimes" (1991), with an exquisitely androgynous Sean Young and a handsome Patrick Bergin.

Sean Young's co-star, Patrick Bergin, is special as the perp. Her voice is velvety and seductive, and so is his. Prosecutor/detective Dana Greenaway (Young), is good-looking, and so is photographer/perpetrator, David Hanover (Bergin). They're a perfect match, on opposite sides of the coin, since he's the evil one and she is trying to nab him by switching jobs from prosecutor to detective and going out into the field alone.

Nothing is far-fetched in cinema any more than in life, and the plot of "Love Crimes" is based on events in the life of fashion photographer, Richard Avedon.

It's so gripping and near-perfect a movie, that I postponed watching the denouement for one night so as not to spoil what I'd seen so far, by an ending. Then, I thought to watch the movie to the end in increments, or to never know it. But, I gave in the second night and watched it through.

If "Love Crimes" has anything but a Hollywood ending, it will make for a rare American movie because the potential is there. And, in part, that's where director, Lizzie Borden, leads us. Aren't we right to expect something unusual from a director with the name, Lizzie Borden, named after America's notorious axe-murderer?

In "Love Crimes" Sean Young does something erotically outrageous, the likes of which hasn't been seen in a movie since beautiful Maruschka Detmers fellated her co-star, Federico Pitzalis, in Marco Bellochio's gem,"Il Diavolo in Corpo" ("Devil in the Flesh"), fifteen years ago.

In "Love Crimes" an exciting cat and mouse chase is enacted between photographer, David Hanover (Bergin) and prosecutor/ detective, Dana Greenaway (Young). Something strange occurs in several confrontations between Greenaway and Hanover when Hanover disarms himself by giving up a loaded gun--and more than once. By this act, the director suddenly ups the tension many notches by abruptly shifting the balance of power.

Lizzie Borden is up to something and on track for deviating from the Hollywood norm. The episodes of power shifting played slowly (as they should be) make us wonder what the good guy will do. They may be the best moments of a remarkable movie. See how far the director is willing to take it.

"Love Crimes" like any movie has flaws but they don't take away from the delicate psychological jousting of the antagonists Some time in their lives men and women possess a physical beauty that reaches its height. When that beauty is exploited by a director and captured by the camera, beauty's pleasure is transmitted to whoever is sensitive to it. Such is the beauty of Sean Young and Patrick Bergin when they made "Love Crimes."

Patrick Bergin may engender as much sympathy as we give Don Juan, but we shouldn't confuse that with a fine performance. He is the perp and he is superb as a convincingly seductive confidence man.

Bergin is gentle, smart, soft-spoken and manipulative. He is also liable to self-destruct or to attack when his mind or emotions dictate. We don't know what he'll do next, or what Sean Young will do either, and that is the film's charm.

Some of the new female directors either like having their female leads appear mannish, like Robin Wright in "Loved" and Sean Young in "Love Crimes," or choose to make a movie in which the lead character calls for a male impersonator like Hilary Swank in "Boys Don't Cry."

If you look at some films directed by women going back to Diane Kurys' "Entre Nous" to "Thelma and Louse," "The Incredibly True Adventures of Two Girls in Love," "Loved" "Kissed" and "Love Crimes" you get a refreshingly varied perspective on the nature of women and men. The new female directors travel along interesting paths with their unique vision of the human animal and the human condition, and hopefully they'll let us come along more often.