[6]

Philip Kaufman (Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Right Stuff, Quills) directs this adaptation of Anais Nin’s autobiography, about her sexual escapades with Henry Miller and his wife June in 1930s Paris. Movies that turn sex into some sort of transcendental experience leave me cold and bored. If I appreciated the approach more, Henry & June is a fine film with good performances from Maria de Medeiros, Fred Ward, and (especially) Uma Thurman. The relationship between the two women is far more interesting than the heterosexual ones. I wish I understood or related with Nin’s desire to follow Miller and June down the rabbit hole. I never understood what — other than sex — kept the character relationships together. Still, Kaufman and cinematographer Philippe Rousselot make the film beautiful and occasionally visceral. It’s interesting to see Medeiros and Thurman making out in a 1931 Parisian gay bar, and co-star Richard E. Grant (playing Nin’s fuddy-duddy husband) has a nice moment when he dons a masquerade mask and ravishes Nin in the middle of an erotic street parade. Henry & June has the distinction of being the first film ever to receive the MPAA’s NC-17 rating.

Oscar Nomination: Best Cinematography