Some incredible performances here don't hide the fact that a convoluted and unbelievable story prevents this from being a good film. Certainly, it is intense and riveting, a creepy noir like view of a world most people don't want to explore but can't help because of the constant presence of sordid stories like this in the news. Kathleen Turner returns to the type of intense sexuality that she had played in her first film, "Body Heat", portraying a character with two lives. She spends her days working in a fashion house, accused unknowing to her of selling company patterns,, and working at night as a fetish specialty hooker name China Blue.
Two men have an impact on her life and how it progresses (or possibly ends), and they are as different as different can be. There is phony street preacher Anthony Perkins in a role that even out creeps Norman Bates, and the unhappily married John Laughlin, seemingly stuck in is marriage to Annie Potts. Completely different than her "Designing Women" character of Mary Jo Shively, Potts' character constantly belittles her husband in a subtle way over every little thing, and when he is hired to follow Turner, Laughlin Falls prey to her intensity.
But there's more to China Blue than her fake blond wig and her outward toughness. Perkins observes everything that Turner does, ultimately becoming a psycho stalker. Laughlin faces the truth about his marriage, but can he save Turner from herself? The way this film is directed is obviously perverse but it is often funny with sexual innuendo through clever lines and hysterically ridiculous characters. Louise Sorel, one of my favorite soap divas, has a hysterical scene as the wife of a millionaire who hires Turner for a threesome and talks business while oggling Turner. This was right before she began playing Augusta Lockridge, an equally outrageous socialite on "Santa Barbara", and she is deliciously nasty.
A touching sequence involving a wife searching for a prostitute for her dying husband is perhaps the most important scene in the film because this is where Turner begins to reveal what is underneath the surface. It is her performance, along with Perkins outrageous melodramatic theatrics, that is commanding and worthy of seeing at least once. It's the type of film that I could only get through once, and many film watchers will be quickly turned off. I could easily see this more through John Waters' eyes than Ken Russell's, because the seriousness in which he presents this requires a lot more tongue in cheek.
Two men have an impact on her life and how it progresses (or possibly ends), and they are as different as different can be. There is phony street preacher Anthony Perkins in a role that even out creeps Norman Bates, and the unhappily married John Laughlin, seemingly stuck in is marriage to Annie Potts. Completely different than her "Designing Women" character of Mary Jo Shively, Potts' character constantly belittles her husband in a subtle way over every little thing, and when he is hired to follow Turner, Laughlin Falls prey to her intensity.
But there's more to China Blue than her fake blond wig and her outward toughness. Perkins observes everything that Turner does, ultimately becoming a psycho stalker. Laughlin faces the truth about his marriage, but can he save Turner from herself? The way this film is directed is obviously perverse but it is often funny with sexual innuendo through clever lines and hysterically ridiculous characters. Louise Sorel, one of my favorite soap divas, has a hysterical scene as the wife of a millionaire who hires Turner for a threesome and talks business while oggling Turner. This was right before she began playing Augusta Lockridge, an equally outrageous socialite on "Santa Barbara", and she is deliciously nasty.
A touching sequence involving a wife searching for a prostitute for her dying husband is perhaps the most important scene in the film because this is where Turner begins to reveal what is underneath the surface. It is her performance, along with Perkins outrageous melodramatic theatrics, that is commanding and worthy of seeing at least once. It's the type of film that I could only get through once, and many film watchers will be quickly turned off. I could easily see this more through John Waters' eyes than Ken Russell's, because the seriousness in which he presents this requires a lot more tongue in cheek.