Kinsey (2004)

My first contact with Alfred Kinsey’s work occurred around one and a half years ago. I was taking a class called Religion in Culture and Society and I decided to write my final paper about the relationship between moral values and sex in Christianity. Nevertheless, it was not until last weekend, when I came out of the movie theater, that I realized the innate value of the book that I was holding in my hands at that time.

Directed and written by Bill Condon (Gods and Monsters, 1998), Kinsey is more than just a biographical work about the pioneer researcher of human sexuality. This movie shows the struggle of a man as he and the American society of the 40s moved beyond fear and taboos and began to question and understand the forbidden subject par excellence: sex.

Lead by Liam Neeson (Schindler's List, 1993) as Dr. Kinsey and Laura Linney (You Can Count on Me, 2000) as his wife, we are confronted with an evocative portrait of self-discovery through the course of the picture. The relationship between these two central characters grows majestically and the same happens to every single individual who enters to the story, from Peter Sarsgaard (Garden State, 2004), as the close assistant of Dr. Kinsey, to Lynn Redgrave (Gods and Monsters, 1998), who plays one of the most moving scenes towards the end of the film as a research participant. Each life represents a different perspective in this subject of study, and all of them are priceless.

During Kinsey, we are introduced to the unconventional interviewing methods used by Dr. Kinsey and his research team in order to collect data from a very diverse group of people about the most intimate details of their lives. Furthermore, we also uncover secrets about Kinsey’s own life when he himself is interviewed. It is through all these experiences that the audience is faced with a great human and social contradiction: we dislike learning certain things but we are very interested to know more about them. Sex is in our nature and this drama shows, above all, that humanity can hardly be separated from scientific research.

The story represents a risk-taking on the part of its creative team, and it is important to notice that although Kinsey contains graphic dialogue and sexual depictions, there is nothing exploitive or without narrative purpose. If something is questionable in the development of the plot, it is the existence of some loose ends. But to me, this is a consequence of the difficulty to collect all this private information and to arrive to a conclusion in a very short amount of time. Nonetheless, Kinsey’s book "Sexual Behavior in the Human Male" shocked a nation in 1948, it also shocked me one and a half years ago and this picture is not afraid to challenge you in 2004. The opinion of this moviegoer is simple, if you are offended by this modus operandi, it is better to stay away from this film; but if you’re craving for two enjoyable hours of exciting ideas and amazing performances, go and catch this flick before it gets censored!