9 1/2 Weeks

A very steamy relationship drama that was notorious at the time for the amount of nudity and the use of strong sexual scenes that pushed the limits for a mainstream movie. It's kind of emotionally charged soft p*rn with beautiful cinematography and a story that attempts to rationalise all the lust.

This is the movie that, at the time, almost single handedly 'invented' the 'food is sexy' concept and had people all over the world laughing about what they would like to do to their partner with a can of whipped cream...

Directed by British Director Adrian Lyne who had previously finished work on "Flashdance", the movie documents the short and destructive sexual relationship between Rourke and Basinger's characters. She is an art gallery worker, he is a wealthy man whose wealth comes from some (unstated) kind of financial dealing.

Filmed entirely in New York, the movie is notable for its cinematography and its pacing, which is unusually slow for a modern movie. The director works hard to create a sense of mood between the characters and their situations which is mostly successful. The games which the couple play to intensify their lust for one another increases dramatically, until it burns itself out and the female character is 'snapped back to reality' and longs for more emotional involvement, which of course, Rourke's character is unable or unwilling to give.

As pointed out by a contributor to this site (see behind the scenes), the movie was originally much longer and had several different story elements that were cut from the final film. This may explain the slightly disjointed "feel" of the movie.

What can't be argued with is Adrian Lyne's visual style. Adrian, along with Michael Mann and Ridley Scott is a graduate of London's highly visual TV commercial industry. Every frame in the movie is beautifully composed and photographed. The sense of atmosphere that exists in the work is one of the best of any modern movie. The revelation that the movie was seriously shortened after completion may explain why such a visually beautiful movie fails to work as beautifully.

Let's hope that MGM see fit to release the undedited version one day for us all to enjoy...