Boxing Helena

''such a nice fantasy'' ?????

To me the whole point of this film was to wrap you up in what is an extremely sick and obsessive male fantasy, make you almost believe it is OK, and then at the end you look at what you have accepted and realise it for what it is.

Boxing Helena is not comfortable watching, but I think a brilliant and involved portrayal of how people(men generally) justify and accept the most controlling acts and confuse them with love.

As a teenager, I caught this movie partially on TV, and, not knowing its name, for years I was searching for it to watch it properly. A few years ago I accidentally bumped into it on some list of the most controversial films of all time, recognized it, and finally got it. The years of waiting paid off - I was thrilled.

I do not want to go into the particular story because I can not do it without spoilers. I will only say that this is convincingly the most morbid love drama I've ever seen, which at the same time provokes fascination and repulsion. In some instances I was sympathetic with the psychopath, in the other with the victim, while at the moments I was wondering who was actually crazier. The first choice for the role of Helena was Madonna, but the contract was then signed with Kim Basinger. Kim gave up in the last minute, she was sued for nine million dollars, and the leading role went to fantastic Sherilyn Fenn, who perfectly portrayed the role of an arrogant "ice-queen", so cold-blooded that even in this extreme situation I could not unreservedly sympathize with her. Maybe I'm too subjective, because of her role in the series "Twin Peaks" and my fascination with this film, but I really think that with Kim this would be a complete failure.

Something disturbed like this can not come from a normal mind. As apple does not fall far from the tree, it is hardly surprising that the script was written by the then nineteen-year-old daughter of David Lynch. A few years later, Jennifer directed the film and won Razzie Award for the Worst Director. Besides the award for the worst directing, there is a rating of 4.6 on IMDb, Metascore 26 and 18% on Rotten Tomatoes. But when you put it all on one pan of scales, and then Sherilyn Fenn climbs on the other side...

9/10

A surgeon (Julian Sands) becomes obsessed with the seductive woman (Sherilyn Fenn) he once was in an affair with. Refusing to accept that she has moved on, he amputates her limbs and holds her captive in his mansion.

After receiving an NC-17 rating by the MPAA, the film was given an R-rating on appeal and released in the United States in September 1993, but received critical backlash and was a financial failure. Gene Siskel was one of the film's few defenders, writing, "I went to the theater to see it expecting the worst," and he called it, "a brave little movie that explored the provocative issue of how some frustrated men channel their inability to love a woman into cruelty." Genre fans might like it, because of the familiar faces -- Sands, Fenn and Bill Paxton. It does suffer from having no one really likable in the plot, and a few twists that may not sit well with some people.

This is an hypnotic, powerful tale of obsession and eroticism. Sherilyn Fenn is wonderful as Helena and gives a performance way beyond the cherry-sucking antics of Twin Peaks. Despite the torture inflicted on Helena, Fenn's portrayal never allows you to feel abject horror, as her Helena remains caustic, tough and impossible to break throughout the film. Julian Sands is good, although he maybe over-eggs the pudding a bit in some of the more gruelling scenes. The first sight of Helena propped up in bed without legs is never forgotten and the special effects make her amputations incredibly realistic. It's just a shame that the ending is such an appalling cop-out, sanitised for viewers who couldn't accept that love and need can blossom in the sickest of circumstances. In fact, I felt tears of frustration well up at the ending because I felt so cheated! If only it had been braver, this would have been a film of groundbreaking proportions. Fenn is great though and acts the hell out of Kim Basinger, the original choice. Watch it but don't build yourself up for the ending.

I don't understand why people don't appreciate this movie. You have to realize that the beginning of the movie establishes how obsessed the main character is with Helena. She reminds him of his mother. Then he does not just have a "dream" about what happens like some people suggest. He is taking medication and drinks it down with a glass of wine. It is suggested that if he does not take the meds strange things happen to his mind. The hallucination helps him to realize how he needed to stay away from Helena before his obsession made something bad happen. It is established in the movie that he has some serious psychological problems to deal with because of his mother. I also find it amazing how they managed to turn the tables and have Helena realize that no one would ever love her the way he does. The seen where Bill Paxton comes in and is repulsed and Helena begs him to leave is amazingly powerful. I loved Julian Sands and Sherilyn Fenn. They were both perfect. He was pitiful and she was raw. Keep an open mind and watch for the meanings behind what the actors are doing.