Kissed
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DVD Review
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Review
At the heart of KISSED is a young woman who loves having sex with corpses. She is not obsessed, it is just that she feels compelled to do it. This film caused quite a stir when it came out in 1997 and by today’s standards seems tame enough to watch and actually enjoy. With a weak pedigree, the Canadian film industry has made it very difficult to acquire funding over the years, reserving it’s critical acclaim for David Cronenberg’s films. Considering the subject matter of his films and the subject matter of KISSED treading a similar dark path, I guessed the film maker has played the Canadian film system very well.
The execution of KISSED though severely departs from the way that David Cronenberg would have made it. We start out with a voice over by Sandra, who over the top of abstract imagery of her having intimate relations with a dead fella, tells us about her philosophy and how life and death are intertwined and what happens to the body at the time of death. We then begin the story. Starting out as a young girl, Sandra is exposed to a dead bird that she takes into the woods and buries. Nothing strange as of yet. Upon arriving at the burial site things take an unexpected twist as the young Sandra creates a ritual that will stay with her and influence her future adventures. After spinning around and stripping down to the bare essentials, she begins to ‘anoint’ the scent of the dead bird around her neck. Sandra then makes a friend and they start to hang out together one summer. All is going well until one day they decide to give an extra special burial to a pregnant chipmunk that they find by the side of the road. Sandra puts on some music and induces her friend to dance and undress. However, when she starts to anoint herself and blood appears on her neck the friend decides that this is too weird and exits stage left. Sandra, again in voice over, tells us that this was the first time that she could perceive how she looked to others.
Jumping forward to when she is a young adult, which is the now the mainstay of the film, she gets a job in the local funeral home. Here she is manages to get promoted and receives embalming training. This involves her having much closer contact with the dead bodies and going on a college course to learn about the finer intricacies of the job. As she starts to have sex with the corpses, a fellow student becomes attached to her and they begin an affair. She is upfront with him and tells him that she has sex with dead bodies. He becomes very curious and approves. However, as things progress, his obsession to find out what motivates her, as well as his love, become entwined and create a poisonous cocktail. In fact he becomes the nightmare boyfriend and starts acting like a mosquito; turning up at the most inconvenient times. As things move forward, the narrative moves in a logical way to its conclusion.
When I first saw this film, back in the day, I was not particularly impressed by what I saw. It was neither sensational or sick enough for my tastes back then. However, now, it came across as a well handled little film whose lack of sensationalism works in its favour. It remains focused on its subject and shows us what we need to see. For example, although she has started having sex with the corpses we don’t see it until after she has lost her virginity to her boyfriend (which is another scene we only get the necessary snapshot from). So by presenting the piece de la resistance at such a key point and in the tasteful way it is done, makes it not so much ‘one for the boys’ so to speak, and only serves to give you the necessary information about her behaviour. I can imagine that this slant on character, and the fact that is directed by a woman, will appeal to a large female audience. Although it would be a shame if it was limited by this audience alone, it is so by its shunning of cheap, sensationalist sequences and its focus on remaining uncompromising in telling this story in an unsensational way. Which to me makes it more interesting.
The DVD presents the film in full screen and lacks any kind of big clean up job, even thought the picture is always clear. The sound comes in its original 2.0 stereo and seemed fine to me. The only problem I had with the sound was the use of songs but that doesn’t really count.
The lack of extras is disappointing. A reflective director’s commentary or interview would have been nice.
All in all, this film remains true to its theme and tells a disturbing little tale in a realistic manner. Although I didn’t really appreciate the Little Red Riding Hood outfit she was wearing because it didn’t come across like a fairy tale, the acting by Molly Parker is from the top draw. The film is always involving and despite its flaws, such as poor music, is always involving. Although I can imagine it already has a following, it is one to consider if you haven’t seen it yet, more so for females than men though. This is because it remains rooted in female psychology and is it made by a woman, so it should have its niche there. Just like male directors and action films targeting 16 year old boys. The lack of extras and a full screen presentation may be off putting but as with so many films, it is the film that is the showpiece. It may not be shocking to today’s audiences but it remains a thought provoking little film that without doubt retains its talking points.
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