Kissed (1996)

People are voting emotionally.

Good concept, poorly executed.

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

This is a purposefully simple and obvious film, but good. Could it have been more complex or developed? Sure. Did it need to be? I think not. The goals were achieved. The mood was executed appropriately, and the performances were given well enough that additional development, while perhaps useful, was not necessary to the objective.Do we need to know why the little girl is attracted to dead things? Not really, unless you're doing a psyche profile on her. For dramatic purposes, it is simply enough to note that she has a life long relationship to it. In fact, in this case there is even a romanticism & perhaps myth centering around her obsession, such that overly defining how it came about would defeat its allure. That allure is what the film is embracing, the allure of necrophilia being more than just a sexual fetish, involving perhaps all four of the principal characters, the girl, her boyfriend, her mentor, & even the custodian, all of whom have varied, & uniquely unnatural fascinations with the subject.The story is direct, & it drives straight to the point without delay, & its characters all have a purpose & design, which conclude fittingly, even including the girl's undertaker mentor, who gets a glimpse into her truth at the end & leaves speechless, knowing all too well what is really happening, just as his custodian knows too well the truth of him.Anyway, onto the question everybody needs answered. Is this arousing? Well, in any well adjusted sense, of course the notion of making love to the dead is not supposed to be sexually arousing, but the film is, or at least alluring, if not in a fully sexual way. Truth be told, there is something arousing about this film, even if it's only arousing to the subject of necrophilia in a voyeuristic way. In short, it's not arousing such that it makes you want to go hump a corpse, but it does make you want to watch her do it. As such, the film is a success at pushing the artistic envelop. To understand the level of difficulty in achieving something like this, one need only reflect on how impossible it would be to make an equally enticing story about any other abominable fetish, like fecophilia. Sounds pretty tough doesn't it? A great deal of the success in making this story alluring was in how it was presented & by whom, & I mean specifically the well played performance given by the celestially beautiful Molly Parker, whose every square inch of freckled majesty I worship, so much so that I too would hang myself, sooner than look away from her glorious visage, or turn away from hearing the hushed tones of her sweet & transcendent voiceI would feel myself bask in her radiance, even if it were a movie wherein she only sat at a bus stop & read from the phone book. I'll watch anything that woman is in, & in this case, I felt I spent my time wisely.

"Kissed" walks very close to the invisible line marked out by this question. I say this because it wasn't necessarily compositional quality that kept me watching; more instead the apparent 'shock factor' of its topic, because gratuity often has a tendency to overwhelm any nuances that may also be present. When dealing with such an 'underground' subject matter (excuse the pun!), then technical proficiency almost becomes irrelevant. If some of the film's images weren't so loudly sensationalistic, one is left thinking with chagrin that the honest speaking voice could more easily be heard...It's almost unfortunate that there is so much nudity, and that it's such an unusual topic, because the sympathetic quality underlying the script may well be overlooked by a lot of people. If you are the type who is able to put themselves in someone else's position without always agreeing with how they go about things; then the main character's struggle with her feelings may very well move you. I feel that certain shots contained within could well be construed as unnecessarily pandering to controversy, though. If this gets more people to give it a chance, then I guess it might well turn out to be a good thing. For the film-makers it must have been a case of being caught between the devil and the deep blue sea, and each individual person will resolve the decided final approach in their own way...The journey the audience take is an unsettling walk with a person longing to find a state where people don't judge, and it affected me far deeper emotionally when it was more reticent about what it revealed, not vice-versa. By holding back on what was shown and exercising just a little more subtlety, it's my opinion that a far stronger position would then be gained to concentrate entirely on this poor young woman and her inner torment. In fact, the more I think about it, not permitting her to give in to the temptation of the act would also lend more resonance to the moment when we finally learn how the people who love her deal with this issue, too. I think too much 'exposure' too soon unfortunately undermines a great deal of its potential impact at the cost of gaining the work a wider notoriety. Despite this hindrance that in my mind prevents it from being of even greater value, "Kissed" is a film which I would say still remains worth seeing.

The very matter of fact tale of a girl who likes dead things. Its simply told and done in a manner that is mostly un-sensational. And for that reason this film is very disturbing since it raises many questions about life death and love. Its well made and well acted by everyone involved. I really can't say anything bad about it except that perhaps the end of the film is a bit too telegraphed. I wish that they had gone in some other direction instead. But thats nit picking and isn't really fair to a film thats bold enough to go off into unique territory/Certainly this isn't a movie for every taste but if your up to a challenging and very off beat story I recommend this film.

I commend the filmmakers for attempting to put on screen such a difficult subject matter as necrophilia with integrity and complexity. To its credit, the movie creates a pretty accurate depiction of one of the forms of necrophilia: the gentle curiosity and obsession with freshly dead corpses. This is relieving, because the other two forms aren't quite as viewer friendly. However, there is a reason why more films aren't made about necrophiliac protagonists. They are very hard to empathize with. This film makes no real attempt at allowing us to connect to with Sandra, and as a result it is not so much a journey we share with her but instead one that we simply observe. Like watching a movie through scratched glass. Not to mention the altogether contrived relationship that emerges in the later half of the film.So if you're looking for an accurate depiction of necrophilia, go for it. If you're looking for some compelling drama or something to watch on a date, you may find yourself needing a stiff drink.