The Unseen Movie Review

Kinsey

In the mid 20th century an unknown zoology professor single-handedly altered the course of western civilisation. Alfred C. Kinsey’s name remains little known to the general public, but his research into sex and sexuality in the 1940s and 1950s for the first time shattered taboos about sexual behaviour which had more or less dominated society since the middle ages. His research was the first step on the road to the Sexual Revolution of the 1960s, and broke the barriers which had continued to stand in the way of equal for women and homosexuals.

This classic nerd - complete with trademark bow tie and a love of classical music and gardening - the son of a Methodist lay preacher, was the most unlikely hero of the wars of the sexes. Brought to life by the always superbly understated Liam Neeson more than sixty years after his research interests shifted from wasps to humans, this film could do much to reclaim his rightful place as the unwitting father of the modern permissive society.

The sheer impact of Kinsey’s work on the world in which we live is brought to life most clearly in scenes from a “hygiene” class at Indiana University, where Kinsey taught. The prudish professor in charge of the course, played by an almost gleefully over the top Tim Curry, spreads in all seriousness misinformation about sex which would, if taught today, probably be cause for a lawsuit. It is almost unbelievable that such untruths could have been treated as fact such a short time ago – especially by a supposedly civilised society.

While Kinsey’s sexual/scientific research lies right at the heart of the film, the presence of Liam Neeson in the lead alone should be enough to demonstrate that this is not mere titillation or scandal-mongering. Aside from his turn as a Jedi master in the abysmal Star Wars: Episode I, Neeson is hardly known for taking on mindless roles. Here, the exploration of the effects of Kinsey’s academic specialty on his marital life - and on those of his researchers – is just as much a focus as his findings. Plus, as should be expected, Neeson’s performance is practically flawless.

Considering the recent resurgence of the self-professed “moral majority” in the United States, this film’s subject matter is highly risky – a supreme irony, considering it was so many decades ago that Kinsey’s well-meaning research first caused such a stir. Despite the adoption of so many of his ideas, they are still – for some – both perverse and challenging.

So it is a blessed relief that the film, artfully and sensitively written and directed by the man behind the superb 1998 biopic of homosexual 1930s film director James Whale Gods and Monsters, manages to avoid kowtowing to American pressure groups who would far rather sex had remained the taboo it was before Kinsey arrived on the scene. Kinsey’s occasionally obsessive devotion to research which many would still call immoral is neither condemned nor lauded. Most today would say that the ends – the liberation of women and the decline in persecution of practices once deemed beyond the pale – were almost entirely good. The film does not judge, and whether or not Kinsey’s means justified these ends is left entirely up to the audience to decide. It’s an odd subject for a biopic but, despite initially seeming like it will have little to say in our post-Kinsey age, still has the ability to provoke much thought.

posted by Nosemonkey @ 12:00 AM