By Melissa Antoinette Garza
I’ll take ‘Movies I constantly secretly rented as a teenager for $200, Alex.’
My God, I love this movie. Talk about Fem Goddess! 9 1/2 WEEKS is why I am always in for Fem Goddess Kim Basinger and fuck Alec Baldwin! The evolution of her character Elizabeth in this flick is just beyond. The heat and sex and rawness of it all still speaks to me the same way it did all those years ago when I swore to my mom I was renting BILL & TED’S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE (1989). I needed to pick a movie I knew like the back of my hand, if quizzed. It worked. Don’t judge me!
9 1/2 WEEKS begins with divorced businesswoman Elizabeth (Kim Basinger) working in the city as an art gallery assistant. She’s very soft, but not a doormat. She runs to the fish shop for some seafood after work. A dapper gent tries a bit of game, but fails at interesting her. You can’t blame the guy for trying. Elizabeth is a vision.
She has this short blonde hair that cuts off right past the ears but it’s messy in a sexy way. She has this bulky 80s tweed jacket that somehow still looks all the rage on Basinger. The woman can do no wrong. I swear. She hits me on every level.
After the gent strikes out another man appears. Now, I’m typically not a Mickey Rourke girl. In most films, I don’t care for him at all. He has some excellent skills as seen in THE WRESTLER (2008) and THE POPE OF GREENWICH VILLAGE (1984), but he never struck my fancy – that is until he was portraying someone who struck Elizabeth’s fancy.
John (Mickey Rourke), a plain name for a man with a tad of narcissism and decent style, enters the fish shop. Elizabeth is still cracking jokes when John turns it on. At first, he’s just smiling but once Liz turns her head – he is owned. He doesn’t know it. He likes to play master and wants her to be a pet, but damn – in the real world, from day one she’s in control. She just needs to take it and he’s content in her thinking she has none. That doesn’t make for a solid foundation, but it does make for some glorious sex scenes.
They bump into each other later at a farmer’s market and small city street mall. An outdoor vendor tempts her with a $300 scarf. She turns it down unaware that John is watching her every move. He approaches her and stands in a dominant style which immediately puts her in a more submissive shy mode. Be patient, this is her first voyage. It’ll take a bit, but she’ll grow some legs.
When they do dinner, he holds the glass while she drinks wine and tries to feed her pasta. He then reveals he bought the scarf. Now, she’s taken. Be careful! Only experienced fems should be playing John’s game. He’s a dangerous one – but damn if he isn’t fun! The trick is to mind-fuck him before he can get in your head. She reveals too much and he listens too well.
It’s easy for him to cater to her every need and with little effort he gets her to do as he pleases. Even after dinner, he brings her back up to his place and starts making the bed. She initially chastises him for expecting too much. He gets spooky, but sexy spooky. She doesn’t fuck him and goes home, but the next day she gets flowers. This hits her the right way and the two embark on an insane sexual exploration. Sadly, only one participant knows the rules going in -and that’s not Fem Goddess Elizabeth.
That doesn’t mean it’s all bad. Is it ever really all bad? No. Why would Elizabeth keep going if it were? It’s wild and fun and salacious and all sorts of naughty. Their first encounter includes him telling her to take off her dress, flashing a hot desk light on her, blindfolding her with a white silk scarf and then restricting her movement while touching her and asking all sorts of tantalizing questions. He then teases her flesh with ice. In itself, that is a spectacular GAME. In the bedroom, it’s all sorts of yummy. If John was a little less OCD, control-freak alpha in real life, things with Liz would go so much better. He just is such a tool during the day but such a rock-star come nightfall. Thankfully, Elizabeth is far from stupid. Still, she has a libido and John knows what buttons to push.
He gives her a watch and tells her to think of him touching her when looking at it at work. When she does, one of the best female masturbatory scenes in film history is showcased. It’s so fabulously wonderful. The Eurythmics cooing This City Never Sleeps while Elizabeth swivels in a chair wearing a white button down shirt and a black skirt with matching nylons. Her red lipstick just shines as she looks at slides of artwork. The heat from the light on the projector just radiates her beauty as she begins to get hot and touch herself. It’s just fabulous. The self-ownership in that moment; regardless of it being initiated by the watch and John, when she’s rocking herself out – it is all about her needs. I love it.
All of the sex scenes are pretty intense fun. Even when they fool around in public and she dresses like a man, I find the whole thing rousing.
Before someone mentions it to me allow me to go there. Yes, there is a rougher sex scene between John and Elizabeth on a table which may be triggering for some. It’s similar to one in A POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE (1981) between Jessica Lange and Jack Nicholson. It’s hot and heavy and really sexy. For those upset by this description, please know this is fiction. It is not a documentary. It is fantasy fodder. If you really want my feminist card because I get off on seeing a choreographed sex scene, you can have it. Someone will give me a new one tomorrow as soon as I say something they agree with.
In the end, Elizabeth gets to the place she needs to be. Even though sad, she finds her freedom and a newfound understanding of her own desires. The film really is about Elizabeth’s awakening into what she wants in her life and in her bedroom. Despite popular opinion, this is a movie about a STRONG woman who finds herself. Is this a healthy look at a BDSM relationship? No. It’s not even really all that much BDSM. Still, it’s a lot of fucking fun and Kim Basinger steals the show. She’s just so marvelous and an expert at her craft.
The reason I’m so tough on Alec is I feel the dissolution of his marriage and even the marriage itself, led to her getting less roles and seriously FUCK HIM FOR THAT!! Fuck him for stealing years off her career when he could never come close to matching her level of skill, talent or heart. She’s an American Treasure and he’s a jackass.
As for 9 1/2 WEEKS, it’s breathtaking at times. It’s soft and hard. It’s light and dark. It’s strong and weak. I fucking love it. It’s a roller coaster with a kickass soundtrack, some great dialogue, terrific leads and heat that doesn’t quit.
Currently, this is on PRIME. I own it because I have great taste in flicks. You should probably too.
Scared Stiff Rating: 8/10
