Female Perversions (1996)

An ambitious female attorney wallows in excess and meaningless sex with both male and female partners, while dealing with her personal life problems including helping her kleptomaniac sister.

Director:

Susan Streitfeld

Writers:

Louise J. Kaplan (book), Julie Hébert (screenplay),

Stars:

Tilda Swinton, Amy Madigan, Karen Sillas

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Tilda Swinton	...	Eve Stephens
Amy Madigan	...	Maddie Stephens
Karen Sillas	...	Renee
Frances Fisher	...	Annunciata
Clancy Brown	...	John
Laila Robins	...	Emma
John Diehl	...	Jake Rock
Paulina Porizkova	...	Langley Flynn
Dale Shuger	...	Edwina
Sandy Martin	...	Trudy
Marcia Cross	...	Beth Stephens
John Cassini	...	Gas Station Attendant
Shawnee Smith	...	Make-Up Salesgirl
Nina Wise	...	Lingerie Saleswoman
Judy Jean Berns	...	Boutique Saleswoman

Storyline

Dresses, lipsticks, sex - the "perversions" (and neuroses) of Eve, a young, very successful lawyer. Her days are a tightrope act between extreme eloquence and frosty toughness on the one side, and scaring vulnerability on the other. The climax of her career shall be the possibly forthcoming appointment as a judge, but this step seems to be interrupted by her kleptomaniac sister Mad who is arrested after one of her raids. Eve travels to Mad's town to stand by her in the jail. Their struggle about Mad's illness evokes suppressed conflicts. Eve stays at her sister's flat where she meets a girl who fights with her budding femininity.

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Plot Keywords:

sister | tightrope | judge | jail | lawyer | 

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Taglines:

Dare to let yourself go where you've never been before.

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Genres:

Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for intense depictions of psychoerotic themes, scenes of strong sexuality and strong language

Details

Country:

Germany USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 April 1997 (USA)

Also Known As:

Desejos Femininos

Filming Locations:

Bakersfield, California, USA

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

ITL 101,019,000 (Italy) (16 May 1997)

Gross:

$883,973 (USA) (25 July 1997)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Mindy Affrime, Degeto Film, Kinowelt Filmproduktion

Technical Specs

Runtime:

119 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Goofs

The boom mic visible in different parts of the movie. In one scene where Maddie is thinking about the past looking at the photograph, and in a second scene at the bathroom where Eve and Maddie take a bath together.

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Quotes

Eve Stephens: You cannot run away from this. You're gonna need some help. Professional help. Madelyn, look at me.
Madelyn Stevens: What are you talking about?
Eve Stephens: Come on, Madelyn. I stayed in your room last night. Since when do you take a child's size five dress?
Madelyn Stevens: That's for Emma. I'm keeping it for her.
Eve Stephens: [scoffs] Yeah, right. What about the hammers, the tools, and the piles of other stuff? I've seen a copy of your file. You have a history of this which is why your bail is so high. Grand larceny is a felony. You're in deep shit.
Madelyn Stevens: [...]

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Soundtracks

"Fire in the Mist (Annunciata's Dance)"
Written and Performed by Johnny Reno
Published by Reno Beat Music/Justice Artists Music Corp. (BMI)

User Reviews

Intellectual Mish Mash with Beautiful Naked Female Bodies

Half of "Female Perversions" was of interesting female images a la Jane Campion and half was turgid and incomprehensible.

Several people gave up and walked out in the middle. Interestingly, while my friend and I had come as we were in the mood for a dose of strong feminism and possible male-bashing, the pretty full audience for a matinée was 80% male definitely attracted by the beautiful naked female bodies casually on display throughout the movie, including quite a bit of explicit lesbian sex, which tends to put me to sleep as it did in "Go Fish." (You do get to see a glimpse of a naked Clancy Brown).

We were the only ones sitting through the credits trying to figure the movie out and exchanging ideas about what the heck the images, let alone the story line meant. Best were the fantasies and nightmares as images of a successful woman's underlying insecurities.

But what a cop-out to do what seemingly all contemporary fiction does this days - blame it all on parental child sexual abuse. And I thought the sexual interpretation of kleptomania had been discredited 50 years ago (at the turn of the century women shoplifters were cured with hysterectomies!). (originally written 5/24/1997)