Cast: Julian Sands, Sherilyn Fenn, Bill Paxton, Kurtwood Smith
Director: Jennifer Chambers Lynch
Producer: Carl Mazzocone and Philippe Carland
Screenplay: Jennifer Chambers Lynch; story by Philippe Carland
Cinematography: Bojan Bazelli
Music: Graeme Revell
U.S. Distributor: Orion Classics
Dr. Nick Cavanaugh (Julian Sands) is obsessed with Helena (Sherilyn Fenn), a woman with whom he had a brief affair. For her part, Helena feels nothing but disdain for Nick, and shows it at every possible opportunity. Nevertheless, one day the good doctor manages to lure the object of his desire to his home. The "romantic lunch" doesn't turn out as planned, but when Helena storms from his house and into the street out front, she's struck by a truck and seriously injured. Not wanting to lose Helena to a hospital, Nick elects to operate in his home lab, amputating Helena's legs, then keeping her captive during her convalescence. When she becomes too difficult to control, he takes things one step further and removes her arms, turning her into his prized possession.
Like father, like daughter. Those expecting a nice, normal film from the offspring of actor/director David Lynch are in for a big shock. Jennifer Chambers Lynch has borrowed from her father's bizarre technique and style, and the elder Lynch's own response to the film is that he (not surprisingly) "really liked it." After watching the film, however, it's not hard to understand why Kim Basinger backed out of the title role at the last minute.
Suspension of disbelief is crucial to Boxing Helena's limited success. Most of what transpires is impossible to accept within the logical confines of the real world. For those who can't accept this as a twisted, modern-day fable, Boxing Helena will come across as a grotesque mixture of ludicrous contrivances. Of course, if one assumes that Chambers Lynch is going for dark comedy, that changes the viewer's entire perspective. Unfortunately, I think a fair share of the humor is unintentional.
Once it gets beyond a hard-to-swallow setup and into the meat of its story, Boxing Helena is surprisingly involving. The script chooses to focus exclusively on the unusual relationship the develops between Sand's Nick and Fenn's Helena -- the inevitable captive/captor emotional bond. The movie discloses its terms early, and expects the audience to buy into them, making no apologies for what it is or intends to be.
As absurd as it often is, Boxing Helena includes some nice touches. A scene where Nick presents the limbless Helena with a gun and offers to kill himself or her at her request is effective because it touches on the core emotions experienced by both parties. There are other such scenes, but intermingled with them are some truly awful subplots. One involves a boyfriend's (Bill Paxton) search for the missing Helena. Another attempts to explain Nick's bizarre actions through flashbacks of a neglectful, promiscuous mother.
One of the things that works against Boxing Helena is Julian Sand's overstated performance. While it's not over-the-top (Bill Paxton takes care of that), neither is it an example of studied, careful acting. Fortunately, Sands' opposite, Sherilyn Fenn, is surprisingly credible. Admittedly, she looks a little too good for someone who has gone through Helena's trauma, but this is supposed to be a fairy tale of sorts.
A series of about five scenes comprises an ending that will undoubtedly polarize viewers into two different camps -- those who approve of the choices made by Chambers Lynch, and those who feel cheated by them. While a great deal is explained that would otherwise have remained mystifying, there are distinct problems with this sort of conclusion. If Chambers Lynch wanted ambiguity, she should have left things as they were; if she wanted a clear resolution, she should have added a few more minutes of footage. As it is, her mingling of the two methods is unsatisfactory.
Boxing Helena will probably become a cult film in short order. It's far too outlandish to receive any sort of general acceptance, but there is enough symbolism and thematic content for a small population of "fringe" film-goers to adopt it. Ultimately, however, the flaws in Boxing Helena have less to do with it weirdness than with production quality. It's just not a particularly good motion picture.
© 1993 James Berardinelli