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.

This thriller is one of a kind. The story is compelling and interesting.

"Boxing Helena" will lure you in, and once you are caught, cut off your limbs. This is a thriller with lots of depth and detail.

The characters are interesting and well cut out. Each bringing lots to the story, and you can immerse yourself in the characters, because they are so well brought to life. Of course, the cast have a lot to do with this as well, and the casting was perfect for each role. The scenery in the movie works well, because it has that touch of personal space to it. It is not scary or dark sets, and it works well for the movie.

The movie is not a gory or really scary one, but it will keep you thrilled with its sense of psychological dread. The story goes forward at a constant flow, never leaving you bored.

"Boxing Helena" leaves you with something to ponder about once it has ended, and I like that in a movie, that means you actually got something for your money. I recommend that you give this movie a chance if you like a movie with some depth.

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.

Don't pay any attention to the silly people giving this 4.8 and trust me when I tell you that this is a deep psychological journey into the depth of one person's narcissistic rejection that is so damned possibly true that it needs to be watched if only for the education and warning. The 4.8 is due to pretentious 'pro' reviewers thinking that the film is in bad taste etc when in fact it is a tour de force worthy of so much more... If Daddy Lynch had of made it then it'd of gotten a 7+ but because it is the daughter of the great man then the haters are out to hate. A heavy heavy film...

Saw this when it first came out in 1993, when Sherilyn Fenn was the "It" girl. I only wanted to see it because it was directed by David Lynch's daughter and I wanted to see if she was as quirky as her legendary filmmaker dad. The first viewing made me think how great a Vincent Price vehicle this could have been. Like her father, Jennifer Lynch takes us on an eerie trip about obsession and control. Fenn is Helena, the one-time lover and object of a surgeon's (sands) affection. After an accident, he takes her to his house and amputates her limbs, then places her in a box and keeps her as his possession. Sands is subtly creepy and the film has a lot of psychological dynamics and is not as bad as its IMDb score suggests. This is a film you want to see when you're looking for something 180-degrees from run-of-the-mill.