Crimes de Paixão

Thank God for Ken Russell. No other director could have made this one. This is not one of his best films, but it is certainly a fun one to watch. Kathleen Turner really goes the limit as an actress in her role as China Blue. She looks great and gives more to the film than it really deserves. While there are some serious jabs made at relationships and sexuality --- this movie is really just raunchy fun. Anthony Perkins almost steals the show in a send-up of his "Psycho" performance. Great use of color and set design considering the small budget. Rick Wakeman's score is suitably cheezy and very dated. An adult film worth watching.

I love films where everyone seems to be having a good time, especially the director. Kathy Turner vamps up Madonna, while Tony Perkins parodies his Psycho role while Russell tells us of a hooker whose heart is cold and made of gold at the same time--because her customers love it. Tony's preacher has obviously spent too much time amongst the slime bags of the combat zone and has allowed them to totally push him over the edge. The obvious point of this film is that the "typical" marriage is no better or worse than moral degeneracy

Forget the "R" rated version, and rent the unrated.

A sportswear designer leads a double life as a hooker named China Blue (Kathleen Turner). One of her clients, a man on the verge of divorce, decides he loves her and figures out who she is. He then begins wooing her, which she fights against since he was a client. Meanwhile a street preacher (Anthony Perkins) works the red light district trying to save souls.

Allegedly, the male lead passed over Patrick Swayze and Jeff Bridges before landing on John Laughlin. Not that Laughlin does a bad job, but in retrospect this seems like an odd choice -- the movie would have had a more lasting impact with one of the other two.

Although Kathleen Turner takes up most of the screen time, and really puts herself out there in these sexual situations, Perkins is the highlight of the film. He never shies away from pushing his own emotions, saying and acting in the most manic of manners. For an actor who made his name working with Hitchcock, he was never afraid to push the envelope in his career. Allegedly, the "poppers" we see him using on screen were real and he was indeed pumped up for much of the shoot.

One aspect of the film that Ken Russell ought to be praised for is how strongly he suggests certain things but never shows them. For a film about American sexuality, there is surprisingly little nudity. Instead, he uses Japanese art to double for this, and presents an endless stream of suggestive -- but rarely explicit -- scenes. This is brilliant, and keeps the movie from becoming smut, despite its themes. Likewise, the violence is almost all psychological -- even a murder scene somewhat humorously uses a doll to avoid showing direct, human physical interaction.

Russell and cinematographer Dick Bush do an excellent job of projecting character on to the actors through lighting. We have garish colors and neon lights for the scenes with China Blue, while the other scenes were more naturalistic light. There are clearly two worlds at play, and Kathleen Turner seamlessly goes from one to the other.

On top of a beautiful 2K restoration, and the ability to watch either the cut or uncut version, the Arrow Video blu-ray comes packed with features. We have audio commentary with director Ken Russell and producer-screenwriter Barry Sandler, seven deleted/extended scenes with optional commentary by Sandler, a brand-new interview with Sandler, and a brand-new interview with composer Rick Wakeman. This is a must-own for any fan of Russell, Turner or especially Perkins.

"Crimes of Passion", an incredibly bizarre, sexually charged drama, provides interesting material with which inimitable filmmaker Ken Russell can work. It's as stylish as anything he's done, and maintains a gritty, fairly sleazy atmosphere and a deliberate pace. Kathleen Turner is striking in the role of "China Blue", a lady with a double life: by day she's a fashion designer (real name Joanna Crane), by night she's a hooker. She fascinates two men, one of them an ordinary guy named Bobby Grady (John Laughlin), the other a fanatical, so-called "preacher" named Peter Shayne (Anthony Perkins) who claims to be out to "save" her. Bobby was hired by Joannas' boss to tail her, and she presents the young man with a fresh view of the world; his relationship with his uptight wife Amy (Annie Potts) has soured after years of marriage, and he's happy to meet somebody who doesn't have any hangups about being intimate. The movie is never quite as outrageous as some viewers may expect, but that doesn't mean that there isn't some explicit imagery here and there. Its few sex scenes are done in a surprisingly tasteful manner, but its dialogue is quite kinky, witty, and delicious; it's amazing to hear ever reliable Perkins, extremely well cast in one of his typical nutty roles, utter lots of obscenities. He's just fantastic as always, and the lovely Turner delivers a multi dimensional performance worthy of some respect. Laughlin and Potts are both fine, and the cast also features people such as Bruce Davison, Stephen Lee, Norman Burton, Peggy Feury, and Gerald S. O'Loughlin, but it's the two leads that truly command your attention. Working from a screenplay by producer Barry Sandler, Russell injects the film with plenty of humour; just the idea of Perkins carrying erotic paraphernalia around with him is a hoot. (There's a vibrator, in particular, that will prove to be a very important prop later on.) It may require a bit of patience on the part of some viewers due to its unhurried nature, and of course some may find the subject matter a turn off. Those who don't will be amused by the sordid story and all of the trappings of the milieu. In the end, this isn't something that can be easily forgotten. Seven out of 10.

The prostitute China Blue is the mask that professional designer, Joanna Crane wears by night. Crane hides behind her alter-ego to live in a grimy and seedy fantasy world to escape her reality. Pastor Shayne is Peter Shayne's view into the world of China Blue and her co-workers. The relationship between China and the Pastor is the focus of this bizarre neon-lit fable of salvation, and deciding who is the one in need of saving is complicated. In-between this twisted relationship, in steps Bobby Grady. Grady is hired to follow Crane to see if she's selling her employers secrets to the competition - Grady finds out that Crane's double life is way more complicated than selling secrets...she's collecting them. Grady, whose stale, lifeless suburban marriage is failing, falls for his mark. This evolves into a bizarre ménage a trois with China chasing a fantasy, Shayne and Grady chasing China. What ensues is Crane becoming unmasked and realising that the life she's chosen is not so easy when you have nothing to hide behind.

If all this sounds complicated, or even messy, it's because it is. Russell's visual-audio fantasy is turned up to eleven as Turner and Perkins act out their character's fantasies. And the casting of both really does fit Russell's style, with Perkins undeniably commanding your attention during his scenes. There's a depth in his portrayal of this tortured faux-preacher that keeps your gaze locked on him throughout. However, Turner is as alluring and committed as usual and doesn't suffer from Perkins' chewing the scenery...actually, she chews as much of it as he does. But they never cancel each other out, merely powerfully co-exist. Then there's John Laughlin as Grady, and Annie Potts as his estranged wife. They both do what's needed, with both coming across as naive, when compared to the experienced deviant characters of Blue and Shayne. Grady's man-child naivety helps remove China's mask from Joanna.

The film, however, has obviously been chopped by the powers that be. Russell's narrative is splintered, a little too much at times. And although the 'masks we wear' message is effective, some of the plot points to highlight them are a little disjointed. Saying that, though, Perkins and Turner are mesmerising and they really keep the film entertaining.