|
9 1/2 Weeks (1986) (aka Nine
1/2 Weeks)
In director Adrian Lyne's (and writer Zalman King's)
sensual, soft-porn melodrama about sexual experimentation - a blockbuster
hit only after being released to video, and a precursor to the Fifty
Shades of Grey trilogy of films (from 2015-2018); in its original
form before severe editing, it was five hours in length - two inferior
successors to the original film appeared in 1997 and 1998: Another
9 1/2 Weeks (aka Love in Paris) (1997), and The First 9 1/2
Weeks (1998):
- the main characters: enigmatic, aloof and handsome
Wall Street executive arbitrageur John Gray (Mickey Rourke) and
divorced, naive, and vulnerable 30-ish NYC art gallery (SoHo's
Spring Street) assistant Elizabeth McGraw (Kim Basinger who had
just recently posed for Playboy), who first met at an outdoor
street fair; then, he impressed and surprised her by buying an
expensive $300 scarf as a gift
- the story: their bizarre romance that included endlessly
creative, obsessive, sado-masochistic and experimental ways that
the two erotic but kinky adventurers-lovers in New York City aroused
themselves during foreplay in his luxury apartment, including submissive
sexual power games initiated by John
|
|
Elizabeth McGraw
(Kim Basinger)
|
With John Gray
(Mickey Rourke)
|
- after an ultimatum request that she accept being
blindfolded, he caressed Elizabeth's half-naked body with melting
ice cubes, and asked the thematic question: "Does this excite
you?"
- the scene of John presenting Elizabeth with an expensive
gold watch in a red box - and instructing her to hopefully use it
for self-stimulation: "Elizabeth, each day at 12 o'clock, would
you look at that watch and think of me touching you?"
- the scene of Elizabeth becoming aroused while watching
art slides in her office; she touched herself all over and then masturbated;
as the slide projector automatically clicked through the pictures
with increasing intensity, she extended her legs outward onto a wall
|
|
|
Masturbation While Watching Slide Show
|
- the long sequence of John's sensual sex games with
food in front of a refrigerator, while spoon-feeding her many items
(with her eyes closed), to the tune of the Newbeats' "Bread
and Butter" [Note: The scene was parodied in Hot Shots!
(1991) between Charlie Sheen and Valeria Golina but with vegetables
and olives.]
Montage of Sensual Food-Sex Games
|
|
|
|
One Olive
|
Spoonfuls from Bowl of Maraschino Cherries
|
One Cherry Tomato
|
|
|
|
A Pint of Strawberries
|
One Glass of Champagne
|
Two Spoonfuls of Vick's Cough Syrup
|
|
|
|
Forkful of Cold Spiral Pasta
|
A Spoonful of Cherry Jello
|
Four Jalapeno Peppers
|
|
|
|
One Glass of Milk
|
Spray From A Shaken Bottle of Sparkling Water
|
Dripped Gobs of Honey
|
- the scene of Liz snooping through his apartment's
closet, clothes, and his personal items (and discovering a picture
of him with another woman, April Tover); afterwards, John sexually
assaulted and punished Liz, by spanking her, overpowering her and
forcing her onto a dining room table to have sex ("pretend"
rape?) with him, and she eventually pleasurably succumbed to him
and stayed for the night
|
|
|
Snooping in John's Closet
|
Sexual Assault (Rape?) As Punishment
|
- the scene of Elizabeth and John having steamy and
wild sex on his apartment's roof-top behind a giant clock-face
- to the tune of Bryan Ferry's "Slave to Love"
- the sequence of gender-switched, cross-dressing Elizabeth
(wearing a mustache, tuxedo and top hat) smoking a cigar and meeting
John in a hotel lobby; after a violent skirmish in an alleyway against
two homophobic guys who accused them of being gay (Elizabeth stabbed
one of the thugs in the butt with a knife), they had steamy sex on
a brick stairway as rain poured down on them; he ripped her tight
leotard in two and then fondled her bare breasts
- Elizabeth performed a slow sensual striptease for
John's satisfaction on the outer roof balcony (to the tune of Joe
Cocker's "You Can Leave Your Hat On")
- another scene of dominance was introduced by John's
question: "Elizabeth, we're gonna play a little game. I'm a
man with a very big problem. Because, you see, I can't get excited.
I can't get excited unless I see you get on your hands and your knees
and crawl across the floor. And I'm willing to pay a lot to see you
do that. Would you do that for me?"; although she thought his
request was "stupid," he repeatedly commanded her to "Get
on all fours and crawl...Elizabeth, I don't want to negotiate with
you. Now crawl...Pick up the money"; as she reluctantly crawled
across the floor and picked up bills, he brandished a horse-whip
in front of her
Degradation and Sado-Masochistic Whipping
|
|
|
- the controversial scene in a dingy hotel room of
John hiring a black hooker (Cintia Cruz) to fondle, caress and
sexually arouse the black-blindfolded Elizabeth - and then in Elizabeth's
presence, he also began touching the semi-naked prostitute to make
her jealous during the threesome; incensed by John's insensitivity,
Elizabeth violently slapped the two of them and fled from the hotel
- in the film's ending, the desperately-unhappy Elizabeth
challenged John after one final night at his apartment; he vowed
that although he had been with lots of women, she was different ("I
want you to know somethin'. I want you to know that there's been
lots of other girls. There's been lots of women. But I never felt
anything like this before. You know, when I just hold you in my arms,
it's just the way you feel. Somethin' I didn't count on. I never
counted on loving you so much"); she questioned his mysterious
lack of commitment after 9 1/2 weeks by asserting: "You knew
it would be over when one of us said stop. But you wouldn't say it.
I almost waited too long"
- in the film's final moments, she walked out on him;
after she shut his door and was out of hearing range, he whispered
that he loved her and expected her to return within 50 seconds: ("Elizabeth.
Elizabeth. I love you. Would you please come back by the time I count
to fifty? One..."); she kept walking - with tears in her eyes
|
Elizabeth Blindfolded by John
Tantalizing Ice Cubes
Sex Behind Clock-Face on Rooftop
Gender-Reversed Cross-Dressing Rendezvous
Rainy Stairwell Sex
Complete Striptease on
Outdoor Roof Balcony
Elizabeth Blindfolded and Touched by Hooker
John With Hooker to Anger Elizabeth
Ending: "You knew it would be over when one of us said
stop"
"Would you please come back by the time I count to
50? One..."
|