While I can see what Russell was trying to say in both cases? It feels like he'd rather revel in the awfulness of sex and torture in THE DEVILS than tell the story—something he really seems to go for in CRIMES OF PASSION, an erotic thriller that tries to be...more, somehow, but ends up just coming off as sickening. (When my ex-wife and I saw CoP, she threw up outside the theater.)
Watching CoP, I started to wonder, "Is it that Ken Russell really doesn't like sex? And he just wants to gross us all out about it...?"
I'm not trying to kink-shame here, because I certainly have proclivities of my own (including one or two Russell might have shared), and if he was into all that and nobody was forced past their limits by it — then Go Forth, My Son! I'm not here to judge so long as you're practicing Risk-Aware Consensual Kink.
I just wonder if it's more that Ken Russell was doing the Filmmaker's version of "Wanna See My Chewed-Up Food?"
"Ewwww! No!"
PS: None of this excuses what William Hurt did to Marlee Matlin, Sandra Jennings, or any of his other partners...allegedly.
I don't think I"ve seen Crimes of Passion...I like the Devils a lot. There are other films of his that are more eh...
While I can see what Russell was trying to say in both cases? It feels like he'd rather revel in the awfulness of sex and torture in THE DEVILS than tell the story—something he really seems to go for in CRIMES OF PASSION, an erotic thriller that tries to be...more, somehow, but ends up just coming off as sickening. (When my ex-wife and I saw CoP, she threw up outside the theater.)
Watching CoP, I started to wonder, "Is it that Ken Russell really doesn't like sex? And he just wants to gross us all out about it...?"
I'm not trying to kink-shame here, because I certainly have proclivities of my own (including one or two Russell might have shared), and if he was into all that and nobody was forced past their limits by it — then Go Forth, My Son! I'm not here to judge so long as you're practicing Risk-Aware Consensual Kink.
I just wonder if it's more that Ken Russell was doing the Filmmaker's version of "Wanna See My Chewed-Up Food?"
"Ewwww! No!"
PS: None of this excuses what William Hurt did to Marlee Matlin, Sandra Jennings, or any of his other partners...allegedly.
Ken Russell really likes sex. I don’t think there’s much doubt about that.