Boxing Helena

Starring:Julian Sands, Sherilyn Fenn, Bill Paxton, Kurtwood Smith, Art Garfunkel, Betsy Clark, Nicolette Scorsese, Meg Register, Bryan Smith, Marla Levine, Kim Lentz, Lloyd T. Williams, Carl Mazzocone Sr., Erik Shoaff, Lisa Oz, Ted Manson, Adele K. Schaeffer, Amy Levin, Matt Berry, D. Taylor Loeb
Director: Jennifer Chambers Lynch
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com

The movie Boxing Helena is probably better known for the court case that sprang from it than for itself. Kim Basinger was famously sued for violating her oral agreement to play the lead role; the jury ruled against her to the tune of almost $9 million. Those who felt the ruling was unjust have no better evidence than the movie itself--who in their right mind would agree to play a woman whose obsessively jealous lover cuts off her arms and legs to control her? Boxing Helena wants to be a penetrating investigation into the dark side of erotic desire. It doesn't succeed. But it does achieve the dubious but delightful status of being an entertaining disaster. Glory in Sherilyn Fenn's amazingly sincere attempt to take the script seriously! Thrill to the completely gratuitous sex scene between Julian Sands and a woman who doesn't appear at any other moment in the movie! Gaze, jaw agape, at the ridiculous ending! The movie features a wonderfully overwrought performance from Bill Paxton (A Simple Plan, Twister) and what is to date the last film appearance of Art Garfunkel. While Boxing Helena doesn't have the relentless ridiculousness of something like The Lonely Lady (with Pia Zadora!) or Showgirls, it has a giddiness that builds as it gets more and more improbable. Bad-movie fans will find it a delectable treat. --Bret Fetzer

Description

Fantasy, desire and manipulation make for a savory-yet-volatile cocktail in this psychological thriller about a woman held captive by a man who loves her. First-time writer-director Jennifer ChambersLynch (The Diary of Laura Palmer) brings "stylistic flair" (The Washington Post) to this haunting, erotic tale of love and lust that straddles the fine line between devotion and obsession. Nick Cavanaugh (Julian Sands, Timecode) is a brilliant surgeon who seems to haveit allmoney, looks, prestigebut all he wants is someone he can't have a voluptuous, cold-hearted seductress: Helena (Sherilyn Fenn, Three of Hearts). After Nick fails to impress her withhis wealth, Helena is struck down by a hit-and-run driver outside his mansion. The good doctor saves her life by amputating her legs, then seizes the opportunity of her immobility to hold her prisoner. Now, he's in control of Helena's body, but not her mind, for this shrewd, quick-thinking vixen ishellbent on keeping Nick on his toes in order to foil his selfish plan to have her not only as a trophy wife but his personal Venus de Milo.

Customer Reviews:

Totally gutless on the follow through..........2007-05-03

Boxing Helena for me is the perfect example of potential-wasting, gutless filmmaking. Warning, spoilers follow. Philippe Caland and Jennifer Lynch presented a genuinely interesting and bold plot, that of a masochistic, mother-obsessed doctor (Nick) who desperately latches onto Helena, a beautiful temptress who wants nothing to do with him. Nick, after having inherited his mother's palatial estate and running into Helena in a bar, decides to throw an impromptu house warming party as cover for inviting Helena into his home where she yet again rebuffs his advances. Nick then lures her back to his house where she is accidentally hit by a car and has her legs horrible crushed. Being a brilliant surgeon, Nick manages to save her life though he amputates both of her legs, and it's at this point that the film becomes both remarkable and lackluster at the same time.

Jennifer Lynch, daughter of filmmaker David Lynch, seems as if she's taking a page out of her father's surreal dream-logic filmmaking book as Nick keeps Helena prisoner and begins to slowly and literally deconstruct Helena limb by limb until she's truly an object of his desire. Helena, on the other hand, spends her time digging into Nick's psyche, taunting his manhood and in a very demented twist, falling in love with him, I believe based purely on his desire for her, which transcends physical beauty (something she is used to men fawning over.) Unfortunately this second act is severely hampered by pointless complexity (in terms of the number of characters in the film) and some very forced and unconvincing performances (namely by Bill Paxton who's trying his best to invoke his character Sevren from Near Dark and Sherilyn Fenn whose stoicism is almost laughable.)

Though the acting is generally bad and the directing generic, the plot would save this otherwise mundane film, but this to is thrashed by a very trite and gutless third act that ends with an ambiguous twist ending, which implies that the entire second act was either a hallucination or a dream. 2 stars for the plot, but only two because it was handled terribly.

Lamo Movie.......2007-03-19

Saw this back around the time it came out but recently I watched it again and it is one of the worst movies of all time! Do not buy unless you plan to watch it with the sound off...

Boxing Helena.......2007-01-05

"Boxing Helena" is directed by the daughter of David Lynch, Jennifer Chambers Lynch. This is the only reason I wanted to see this movie. I always get curious when the offspring of a filmmaker decides to follow in their parents footsteps, but when it's the offspring of one of my favorite directors...That only makes it more interesting. And "Boxing Helena" is an interesting movie, very much in the vein of a David Lynch film. This film deals with dreams, sexual obsession, and a whole jubilee of weirdness. Watching the film, it amazed me that a woman wrote it. This film feels like it's written by a man, which I'll explain in a moment. The movie is about a doctor named Nick Cavanaugh (Julian Sands), who clearly has a few screws loose. He's got a beautiful girlfriend and, after the death of his mother, a mansion. But there's one thing he doesn't have and that is Helena (Sherilyn Fenn, 'Of Mice & Men'). Nick harbors a full-on obsession for Helena, a woman he had a one-night stand with and can't stop thinking about. He even climbs the tree outside her window to spy into her room. Warned by a fellow doctor/friend (Art Garfunkel) not to mess with her, Nick invites her to a party only to have his ego crushed when she leaves with another man. Fate steps in, however, when she leaves her purse at the party and Nick creates circumstances that cause her to come to his house and get it. While leaving his house, Helena is hit by a car and Nick is forced to perform emergency surgery to save her. He amputates her legs. Now Helena, legless and helpless, is trapped in Nick's house (think of it as "Misery" in reverse). Besides not letting her go and amputating her body parts, Nick doesn't harm her. The man loves Helena and doesn't want to hurt her, but simply wants her to have feelings for him too. What it is he sees in Helena isn't really made obvious. Besides beauty, there's not much going for her. She's rude, narcissistic, and cold. Anyway, the remainder of the film consists of Nick trying to keep Helena for himself while her boyfriend Ray (Bill Paxton, doing some of the worst acting he's ever done) looks for her. The ending is contrived and too reminiscent of earlier and later David Lynch films. The films weakness is both the ending and Paxton and the director's decision to use soft-core porn music for her score. There are also a few scenes that look like outtakes from "Wild Orchid." Meanwhile, you have Bill Paxton acting like he had never done so. His facial expressions and the way he recites his dialogue in this film is bad. I don't know if you can call it overacting, but it's definitely bad acting. Other than that, the acting is solid. Sands is a good casting choice, because he really portrays how pathetic and lonely this character is. Fenn is good too, making the character easy to hate without making us hate her too much. My only other complaint is the DVD. No subtitles and the audio track is less than spectacular. There's a lot of whispering in the movie (a lot of yelling, though, too) and subtitles would've been nice. Since this is the only film Lynch has directed, it's hard to say what she could accomplish if she made more movies. But this film shows her as a promising young talent, whose biggest mistake was drawing a little too much inspiration from daddy.

GRADE: B

Not for the faint of heart.......2006-10-10

If you're one of those people who only goes to see Box office smashes or likes movies to be completely concrete,this is not a movie for you. However,if you find yourself intrigued by cult classics and have an open mind,you may find this film to be a sinful pleasure.
The movie has beautiful backrounds and scenery throughout and some very sensual music. Many reviews state that the characters arent likeable,but that is the whole point! I liked the realness of these characters that's not sugar coated like in many other movies. You see them being awkward and insecure and hateful and neurotic.
I first viewed this film on HBO when I was home with nothing to do.Immeaditely I was pulled in and fascinated with it ever since. I tend to like movies that push the edge though~cult classics that dare to be different.If you are one of these people,this is the movie for you!!! If not,you will be highly disapointed it doesnt have the commercial appeal as most movies.

An erotic, psychotic drama thats still bizarre to watch.......2006-10-04

Boxing Helena is one of those films that became somewhat of a cult classic DVD more for its theme than its actors or overall dialogue and script. The plot is to good to pass up, its basically obsession driven to the extreme.

Boxing Helena stars Julian Sands as Dr. Nick Cavanaugh, who is somewhat of an introvert at heart, but can it be helped? The guy's mother was pretty much an aristocratic tramp who at the end of her life left him a giant mansion to stew in during his bachelorhood. Okay, he is not a hermit; he does have a girlfriend named Anne Garrett (Betsy Clark). It does not matter much though; as there is still a woman from his little black book he cannot stop thinking about. The woman's name is Helena (Sherilyn Fenn) and lives nearby. Nick is constantly trying to work his way back into her life, and eventually does. That does not matter either though, because she brushes him off time and time again like day old dandruff. Then the day comes when she is arguing with him near the street in front of his home, when something terrible happens to Helena.

Nick now has the opportunity he always wanted. Immobile from a severe injury, Nick keeps her at his house as a prisoner, constantly doting on her. The whole time of course, she is miserable and continues her verbal insults in hoping it's all just a bad dream. By this time the hospital is wondering where the doc is, and Helena's somewhat boyfriend Ray (A younger, and in this role MEANER Jim Paxton) who is like some sort of cast-off cowboy/biker type, is looking for her. The themes of love, obsession, and erotic desire are pretty thick in this film. Overall this part is done well. What drags is the acting I feel, of Julian Sands. At times he plays his character brilliantly, conveying Dr. Cavanaugh as a hopeless, sniveling person that has no confidence in himself. The dialogue gets a bit old as Nick continues to be caught in some dreamland of hope as he does an about face and despite Helena's verbal abuse (who can blame her?) continues to win her heart. Helena is at times extreme in the "shock and awe" department as we see how Nick continues to, um, do things to her to render her even more immobile. The ending is not expected at all, and overall this film is really one for the "contemporary" shelf, or something to watch if you want a mind tripping head game from that oh so recognizable obsessive male figure.

Sherilyn Fenn really steals the show here, although it's more for beauty and vicious vilifying than overall acting talent. Some always thought it was crazy that this was the movie Kim Basinger did a head fake on at the last second, dodging the role and going bankrupt because of the impending lawsuit. Looking at the careers of her and Sherilyn, I don't think in the big picture it really mattered. It is always fun to see Bill Paxton in this role as he's much younger and has not really played a character like this since. It's above mind popcorn, and below average, but considering the themes that it covers in an extreme and twisted kind of way, it works.

Average customer rating:

Boxing Helena
Starring: Boxing Helena
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

DVD:

DVD