Female Perversions

It seems to me that quite a lot of people really dislike this film, when in reality, it's not very warranted. Oh sure, it's very weird, sexual, very "artsy" in the way you know will annoy a quite large number of people. I found it fascinating, though. I found it unpredictable and fun (until the pretty heavy final 15 minutes) and most importantly, I was able to see the glorious, best- actress-alive Tilda Swinton in a very different sort of role, a sort of role that I had never seen her do before but which she nails. She's very seductive and cold here, very unlikable and Swinton manages to make it all work gloriously, along with an impressive Amy Madigan as the most important secondary character.

"Female Perversions" is short on story and long on character as it peers into the life of an ambitious attorney (Swinton) who is far more confident in a courtroom than in her own insecure and sexually needy personal life. Apparently a sort of testament to the female condition, this flick by women about women surrounds Swinton with a conglomeration of neurotic females as it plods doggedly through a maze of peculiar behavior. On the upside, this deep character study offers some excellent performances as it explores its dark and aberrant landscape. On the downside, the film is a little over-the-top and glommed up with symbolism, dream sequences, and excursions into the surreal. Lacking in story, unpleasant in subject, and artsy-fartsy in execution, the common filmgoer may find this flick unsatisfying. However, for those into deep character studies and psychodramas, an interesting watch awaits. (B)

The compulsive, neurotic, deranged and bi-sexual efficient and tough lawyer Evelyn Stephens (Tilda Swinton) is depending on an interview with the Governor to be appointed as a judge in the court of law. Her kleptomaniac sister Maddie Stephens (Amy Madigan) is finishing her PhD in UCLA. While waiting for her interview, Eve has a simultaneous affair with John (Clancy Brown) and the psychologist Renee (Karen Sillas), and helps her mean sister to leave the jail, arrested in a shoplifting.

"Female Perversions" is a weird movie with bizarre characters. The sad soundtrack and the photography are very beautiful and the interpretations of the cast are excellent. However, although being intriguing and provocative in some moments, the story never reaches a point and sometimes becomes boring. Further, although having naked women and many sex scenes, they are not erotic and does not excite, at least under the view of a man. I did not like this movie, but I recognize that it is a stylistic film with great performances. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Desejos Femininos" ("Female Desires")

Eve Stephens (Tilda Swinton) is a driven attorney about to become a judge. She uses her femininity to get what she wants and to rise to the top of her profession.

She has passions outside of work. She craves sexual satisfaction. Not emotional attachments mind you, but the satisfaction of satisfying sexual hunger. The difficulty in balancing the two is driving her mad, and makes for an excellent film about the role women play in the corporate world.

She is not satisfied with the executives in her firm; she also picks up Renee (Karen Sillas), a new psychiatrist in an elevator.

Her sister, Madelyn Stephens (Amy Madigan), fulfills her erotic desire by shoplifting. Eve is forced to deal with her problem to keep on track for the judgeship.

She also has problems dealing wither her replacement (Paulina Porizkova), who is considerably more attractive.

I am not sure about the fantasy sequences with what I guess to be an Earthwoman. There was enough interesting characters besides her sister - a woman who runs a bridal store (Laila Robins), a stripper (Frances Fisher) and an adolescent tomboy named Ed (Dale Shuger), who is into self-mutilation - that they could have kept it real.

By now we are used to it, when sexuality is involved, the judgments are conflicting, perhaps tending towards denigration. We should reflect on this, without disturbing psychoanalysis, but it is a fact. Everything is accentuated if the topic concerns the female sexual sphere. It will also happen in 2008 with Valérie - Diary of a nymphomaniac always directed by women. Perhaps a doubt arises on the fact that perhaps women are more "capable" of tackling the subject than male directors, whose production with a porn vision borders on the ridiculous! Duty premise to talk about the film in question which is inspired by an essay by the late psychoanalyst Louise J. Kapplan Female Perversions: The Temptations of Emma Bovary. Kapplan, it should be remembered, was the leader in the 1960s, in the demand of the nascent feminist movement, for a sexuality free from the oppressive bonds of a fundamentally phallocratic society. Streitfeld made her the thesis, expressed in the essay, that female sexuality, although free to express itself, is not immune to the impulses it has to deal with. That she then succeeded in transferring this reflection into the film is a cause for debate, but we cannot deny the courage to have proposed a thorny and easy subject to criticism, and she deserves the credit for having chosen an actress like Swinton. perfect in the role. All this leads to a positive evaluation of the film, although not free from some stylistic and writing imperfections!