Female Perversions

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.

This is a terrific film about women struggling to discover a way to find and develop their identity. While some of the allusions and metaphors can be a bit heavy handed, they are effective.

Eve (Tilda Swinton) is a lawyer about to be nominated for a judgeship. While her professional life is as much as she could wish, her personal life is a mess. She is involved with an architect (male) and a psychotherapist, Renee. But she is unable to connect with either. Her upbringing, devotion to her work, and desperate desire for control have left her emotionally stunted, unable to make a real connection to anyone around her.

One day, her sister is picked up for shoplifting. Eve rides to her rescue, and spends several days in the middle of nowhere, with an exotic dancer, a young girl just entering puberty, and a brilliant but shattered friend.

Many critics hated this movie (most guides give it just 2 or 3 stars) but I think they couldn't get past Eve's coldness. But this movie is a study in coldness, in emotional death and rebirth. But it is not Eve who is reborn. See it and judge for yourself.

"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)

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.

While viewing FEMALE PERVERSIONS, I began to wonder if I was losing my mind. For whom was this film made? Who put up the money to make this film? FEMALE PERVERSIONS is pretentious piece of clap trap masquerading as something deep and meaningful. Woman have it rough competing in male dominated society and men are responsible for all of woman neurosis seems to be the message. Ho Hum! Where have we heard that before?

Just about every character in this film is angry, nasty, neurotic, and unpleasant, except for teenage "Tomgirl" named Ed, who is just a little mixed up. The scenes of Eve's dreams and hidden memories are down right laughable, like the kind of stuff found in some over indulgent student film. The film has not coherent plot, just a lot of incidents. And would somebody please explain the ending?

There are some people who praise this film because it deals with characters searching for their identity, but most of the characters come across as so self absorbed that they evoke no sympathy. The film puts an emphasis on getting in touch with ones "feelings." But when one constantly dwells on his/her feelings, its leads to selfishness and hedonism, a point the films makers seem not to be aware of.