Kinsey (2004)

A look at the life of Alfred Kinsey, a pioneer in the area of human sexuality research, whose 1948 publication "Sexual Behavior in the Human Male" was one of the first recorded works that saw science address sexual behavior.

Director:

Bill Condon

Writer:

Bill Condon

Stars:

Liam Neeson, Laura Linney, Chris O'Donnell

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 17 wins & 50 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Liam Neeson	...	Alfred Kinsey
Laura Linney	...	Clara McMillen
Chris O'Donnell	...	Wardell Pomeroy
Peter Sarsgaard	...	Clyde Martin
Timothy Hutton	...	Paul Gebhard
John Lithgow	...	Alfred Seguine Kinsey
Tim Curry	...	Thurman Rice
Oliver Platt	...	Herman Wells
Dylan Baker	...	Alan Gregg
Julianne Nicholson	...	Alice Martin
William Sadler	...	Kenneth Braun
John McMartin	...	Huntington Hartford
Veronica Cartwright	...	Sara Kinsey
Kathleen Chalfant	...	Barbara Merkle
Heather Goldenhersh	...	Martha Pomeroy

Storyline

Called "Prok" as an adult (short for Professor Kinsey), Alfred Kinsey, Jr. (Liam Neeson) has been interested in biology since he was a child growing up in the early twentieth century, despite the criticisms of such being evil nonsense from his overbearing and devoutly Christian father, Professor Alfred Seguine Kinsey (John Lithgow). Prok goes on to become a biology professor at Indiana University, initially focusing on the study of gall wasps. But those studies, in combination with questions from his students, coming to terms with the needs of sex with his own wife, a former student of his named Clara McMillen (Laura Linney) (whom he calls Mac), and what he sees as the gross misinformation on the subject currently within popular belief makes him change his focus to human sexuality. Many of those gross untruths - as he sees them - are that oral sex and masturbation cause a slew of maladies, which are perpetuated by what is presented in the university's hygiene class taught by Professor...

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Plot Keywords:

sexuality | character name as title | surname as title | lgbt plus | sex | 

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Taglines:

Let's talk about sex.

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Genres:

Biography | Drama | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for pervasive sexual content, including some graphic images and descriptions

Did You Know?

Trivia

Despite containing relatively few depictions of sexual behavior, the M.P.A.A. gave this movie an R-rating for all of the conversations about sex and verbal descriptions of sexual acts. However, according to Writer and Director Bill Condon, the M.P.A.A. members thanked him afterwards, because they had nonetheless found the movie very educational.

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Goofs

The newspaper headlines about Kinsey's first book in the late 1940s are pasted onto current newspapers. Just above one of the headlines we see a story about the New York Mets and the Houston Astros. These teams did not exist in the late 1940s.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Alfred Kinsey: Don't sit so far away. Anything that creates a distance should be avoided.

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Crazy Credits

At the end of the film (following the main cast credits), a montage featuring Kinsey Institute footage of the mating habits of various animals is accompanied by "Fever" by Little Willie John.

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Connections

Featured in The 20th IFP Independent Spirit Awards (2005)

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Soundtracks

Violin Concerto in D Minor, Opus 47 Allegro Moderato
Written by Jean Sibelius
Performed by Lahti Symphony Orchestra / Leonidas Kavakos, violin / Conducted by Osmo Vänskä (as Osmo Vanska)
Published by Zimmerman Publishers
Courtesy of Bis Records AB

User Reviews

Condon's Mastery Depicting Kinsey's Sexology & Sexualities

One of the mid-20th century sexologists, Alfred C. Kinsey, is brought to life through a stellar performance by Liam Neeson. Screenplay writer & director, Bill Condon, who should have won an Oscar for "Gods and Monsters," uses an enticing technique of switching between B&W scenes & color ones. In the former, Kinsey is depicted as a subject, in a clinical setting, responding to his own sex survey questions. In the latter, Condon takes us through flashbacks of choice intimate events during Kinsey's younger life. This combination of screenplay & direction movement between the past in color & the present in B&W seems contradictory. However, it is quite effective to draw out the importance of how significant, if not 'colorful', Kinsey's upbringing was while living in his father-preacher's (John Lithgow) anti-sexual & puritanical home.

Kinsey's sexology includes so many open-ended questions that they leave room for respondents to elaborate upon their true sexual experiences. Their thousands of responses included in Kinsey's research {published as "Sexual Behavior in the Human Male (1948) & "Sexual Behavior in the Human Female (1953)} are anything but black & white! It is to Kinsey's credit, his passion, the effectiveness of his research techniques, that sexology discovered US respondents were eager to speak about sex. Since Kinsey's findings are not what the US public expected to learn, his research became controversial. For instance, the first book found males had many more same-gender sexual experiences than anyone imagined. The second book really rocked the world when Kinsey's research showed that females shared the same sexual desires as males! From the start of the film to the end it is loaded with sexological words: in other words, the clinical names for genital body parts & sexual activities. Sexual activities are spoken of scientifically & sometimes depicted. This is not by any means a pornographic motion picture. It is about the science of sexology. But, most especially, it is a fine film that aptly portrays both the research & intimate passions of the world famous US sexologist, Kinsey.

It's not necessarily an adults-only film; depending upon how well prepared & educated teens are in studies of human sexual behavior. I feel Condon masters the topics of sexology & sexualities.

Details

Official Sites:

Fox Searchlight

Country:

USA Germany

Language:

English

Release Date:

7 January 2005 (USA)

Also Known As:

Kinsey

Filming Locations:

Bloomfield, New Jersey, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$11,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$169,038, 14 November 2004

Gross USA:

$10,254,979

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$17,050,017

Company Credits

Production Co:

Fox Searchlight Pictures, Qwerty Films, N1 European Film Produktions GmbH & Co. KG

Technical Specs

Runtime:

118 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Black and White Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1