''Boxing Helena'' is a 1993 American
mystery thriller
Thriller may refer to:
* Thriller (genre), a broad genre of literature, film and television
** Thriller film, a film genre under the general thriller genre
Comics
* ''Thriller'' (DC Comics), a comic book series published 1983–84 by DC Comics i ...
and
body horror
Body horror or biological horror is a subgenre of horror that intentionally showcases grotesque or psychologically disturbing violations of the human body. These violations may manifest through aberrant sex, mutations, mutilation, zombification, ...
film directed by
Jennifer Lynch and starring
Sherilyn Fenn
Sherilyn Fenn (born Sheryl Ann Fenn; February 1, 1965) is an American actress and author. She came to attention for her performance as Audrey Horne on the television series ''Twin Peaks'' (1990–1991, 2017) for which she was nominated for a Gol ...
,
, and
Bill Paxton
William Paxton (May 17, 1955 – February 25, 2017) was an American actor and filmmaker. He appeared in films such as ''Weird Science'' (1985), ''Aliens'' (1986), '' Near Dark'' (1987), '' Tombstone'' (1993), '' True Lies'' (1994), ''Apollo 13 ...
.
Before its release, the film's production was hampered by legal battles with
Madonna and
Kim Basinger
Kimila Ann Basinger ( ; born December 8, 1953) is an American actress and former fashion model. She has garnered acclaim for her work in film and television, for which she has received various accolades including an Academy Award, a Golden Glo ...
, who both backed out of playing Helena. The film debuted at the
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,6 ...
in January 1993, where it was both dismissed and praised in equal measure by critics.
After receiving an
NC-17
The Motion Picture Association film rating system is used in the United States and its territories to rate a motion picture's suitability for certain audiences based on its content. The system and the ratings applied to individual motion pictures ...
rating from the
MPAA
The Motion Picture Association (MPA) is an American trade association representing the five major film studios of the United States, as well as the video streaming service Netflix. Founded in 1922 as the Motion Picture Producers and Distribu ...
, the film was given an R rating on appeal and released in the United States in September 1993. It was a critical and financial failure.
Plot
The movie follows a surgeon whose growing obsession with a woman leads him to hold her captive in his home after she suffers a car accident and to amputate her limbs to keep her captive.
Nick Cavanaugh is a lonely
Atlanta
Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,71 ...
surgeon obsessed with Helena, with whom he had one intimate experience, but she disdains him. After she suffers a
high-grade tibial fracture in a hit-and-run motor vehicle collision in front of his home, Nick kidnaps Helena and surreptitiously treats her in his home, amputating both her legs above the knee. Later, after she tries to choke him, Nick amputates her arms above the elbow.
Though Helena is the victim of Nick's kidnapping and mutilation, she dominates the dialogue with constant ridicule of his shortcomings. But this was all a dream: Helena awakes in the hospital with all her limbs intact.
Cast
*
Sherilyn Fenn
Sherilyn Fenn (born Sheryl Ann Fenn; February 1, 1965) is an American actress and author. She came to attention for her performance as Audrey Horne on the television series ''Twin Peaks'' (1990–1991, 2017) for which she was nominated for a Gol ...
as Helena
*
as Nick Cavanaugh
*
Bill Paxton
William Paxton (May 17, 1955 – February 25, 2017) was an American actor and filmmaker. He appeared in films such as ''Weird Science'' (1985), ''Aliens'' (1986), '' Near Dark'' (1987), '' Tombstone'' (1993), '' True Lies'' (1994), ''Apollo 13 ...
as Ray O'Malley
*
Kurtwood Smith
Kurtwood Larson Smith (born July 3, 1943) is an American television and film actor. He is known for playing Clarence Boddicker in ''RoboCop'' (1987), Robert Griggs in '' Rambo III'' (1988), and Red Forman in ''That '70s Show'' (1998–2006), a ...
as Alan Palmer
*
Art Garfunkel
Arthur Ira Garfunkel (born November 5, 1941) is an American singer, poet, and actor. He is best known for his partnership with Paul Simon in the folk rock duo Simon & Garfunkel.
Highlights of Garfunkel's solo music career include one top-10 ...
as Lawrence Augustine
* Betsy Clark as Anne Garrett
* Nicolette Scorsese as Fantasy Lover/Nurse
* Meg Register as Marion Cavanaugh
* Bryan Smith as Russell
* Marla Levine as Patricia
* Kim Lentz as Nurse Diane
* Lloyd T. Williams as Sam the Clerk
Production
Producer Philippe Caland came up with the idea, but wanted a woman to write it, and so approached Lynch after she gave a poetry reading.
At first, Lynch declined to get involved, reportedly telling him "Well, that sounds kind of terrible."
But Caland was eventually able to convince her to work on it. In writing, Lynch was inspired by some elements from her own childhood, telling ''Vice'' that being born with
club feet
Club may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* ''Club'' (magazine)
* Club, a '' Yie Ar Kung-Fu'' character
* Clubs (suit), a suit of playing cards
* Club music
* "Club", by Kelsea Ballerini from the album ''kelsea''
Brands and enterprises ...
, and her grandmother owning a ''
Venus de Milo
The ''Venus de Milo'' (; el, Αφροδίτη της Μήλου, Afrodíti tis Mílou) is an Ancient Greece, ancient Greek sculpture that was created during the Hellenistic art, Hellenistic period, sometime between 150 and 125 BC. It is one of ...
'' replica, influenced her insight into the characters:
It always struck me the way people looked at the Venus. They didn't see her as broken, they saw her as beautiful. And it really made a huge impact on me. I thought I was broken and that maybe someday someone would find me beautiful. So this idea of a damaged boy who was in an obsessive situation who would try to recreate from his own view the one thing that didn't hit him or abandon him was this armless, beautiful woman. And therefore in a dream recreate this obsessive thing where we take from one another until we are the size and shape that we think the other person should be for us.
Madonna was slated to play Helena, but shortly before filming was to begin in January 1991 she dropped out, halting the production.
The next month, in an attempt to salvage the film, Lynch met with
Kim Basinger
Kimila Ann Basinger ( ; born December 8, 1953) is an American actress and former fashion model. She has garnered acclaim for her work in film and television, for which she has received various accolades including an Academy Award, a Golden Glo ...
about playing Helena. Basinger agreed, but closer to the new filming date she began requesting what ''The New York Times'' called "major script revisions", which according to producer Mazzocone amounted to making Helena "less of a bitch". After the production failed to make the changes to Basinger's satisfaction she also quit the picture.
Legal battles involving both stars then ensued. Eventually Basinger was the subject of an adverse jury verdict for over $8.1 million, which bankrupted her. The verdict was set aside on appeal in 1994, but Basinger later settled for $3.8 million.
Meanwhile, Fenn, who had previously worked with Lynch's father on ''
Twin Peaks
''Twin Peaks'' is an American mystery serial drama television series created by Mark Frost and David Lynch. It premiered on ABC on April 8, 1990, and originally ran for two seasons until its cancellation in 1991. The show returned in 2017 fo ...
'', was cast as Helena in December 1991.
By this time a third major star,
Ed Harris
Edward Allen Harris (born November 28, 1950) is an American actor and filmmaker. His performances in ''Apollo 13'' (1995), '' The Truman Show'' (1998), '' Pollock'' (2000), and '' The Hours'' (2002) earned him critical acclaim and Academy Award ...
, had also backed out of the film due to the ever-increasing delays, telling ''The New York Times'', "I needed to get on with my life."
Music
The score heard during the scene where Helena showers in a fountain while a party crowd watches was originally composed by
Graeme Revell and based on the "Love Theme" used sparsely elsewhere in the film, with vocals by Bobbi Page. At the producers' request, "The Fountain Song", written and performed by Wendy Levy, replaced Revell's score in the DVD and subsequent releases.
Release
''Boxing Helena'' premiered at the
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,6 ...
in January 1993 and was theatrically released by
Orion Classics
Orion Classics started in 1982 as the distribution label for the then independent film production company Orion Pictures, now owned by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was relaunched in 2018.
The original focus of 1980-era Orion Classics was on acquirin ...
in the United States on September 3, 1993,
Entertainment Film Distributors
Entertainment Film Distributors, Ltd. is a British distributor of independent films in the UK and Ireland for various production companies, founded by Michael L. Green and currently run by his son Nigel Green.
Michael L. Green was a veteran pro ...
in the United Kingdom on June 18, 1993, and
Republic Pictures
Republic Pictures Corporation (currently held under Melange Pictures, LLC) was an American motion picture production-distribution corporation in operation from 1935 to 1967, that was based in Los Angeles. It had studio facilities in Studio City a ...
in other international territories.
Box office
The film performed poorly at the box office, grossing $1,796,389 in the domestic box office.
Reception
The film received negative reviews from critics upon release and was widely considered to be of poor quality, despite garnering praise at Sundance. On the
review aggregator
A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...
website
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...
, the film has a 17% score based on 36 reviews, with an average rating of 3.8/10. The website's consensus reads, "A disturbing concept marred by graceless execution, ''Boxing Helena'' is a psychosexual drama that proves more tedious than provocative."
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
reports a 26 out of 100 rating based on 14 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". ''
Chicago Tribune
The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television a ...
'' critic
Gene Siskel
Eugene Kal Siskel (January 26, 1946 – February 20, 1999) was an American film critic and journalist for the ''Chicago Tribune''. Along with colleague Roger Ebert, he hosted a series of movie review programs on television from 1975 until his d ...
was one of the few positive notices, giving the film three out of four stars.
John Simon of the ''
National Review
''National Review'' is an American conservative editorial magazine, focusing on news and commentary pieces on political, social, and cultural affairs. The magazine was founded by the author William F. Buckley Jr. in 1955. Its editor-in-chief ...
'' called ''Boxing Helena'' "the rottenest apple from the bottom of the cinematic barrel".
Nominations and awards
The film was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the 1993
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,6 ...
. Lynch won a
Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Director
The Razzie Award for Worst Director is an award presented at the annual Golden Raspberry Awards to the worst director of the previous year. The following is a list of nominees and recipients of that award, along with the film(s) for which they w ...
at the
14th Golden Raspberry Awards in 1994.
In popular culture
The film was referenced in the television series ''
Gilmore Girls
''Gilmore Girls'' is an American comedy-drama television series created by Amy Sherman-Palladino and starring Lauren Graham ( Lorelai Gilmore) and Alexis Bledel ( Rory Gilmore). The show debuted on October 5, 2000, on The WB and became a flag ...
'' (S3:E7 “They Shoot Gilmores, Don’t They?”), as well as ''
The Nanny
''The Nanny'' is an American television sitcom that originally aired on CBS from November 3, 1993, to June 23, 1999, starring Fran Drescher as Fran Fine, a Jewish fashionista from Flushing, Queens, New York, who becomes the nanny of three ...
'' (S1:E22 "I Don't Remember Mama"). The film also inspired the song "Helena" by
Misfits from their album ''
Famous Monsters
''Famous Monsters'' is the fifth studio album by the American punk rock band Misfits, released on October 5, 1999. It is the second in the post- Danzig era of the band, and the last album to feature Doyle Wolfgang von Frankenstein, Michale Gra ...
'' and "Helena 2" from their album ''
Cuts from the Crypt
''Cuts From the Crypt'' is a collection of demos, formerly unreleased tracks and cover songs by the American horror punk band Misfits. All the album's tracks were recorded by the band in the years following their reformation without original s ...
''.
The film's title was used as the name of an episode of the sixth season of ''
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
''The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air'' is an American television sitcom created by Andy and Susan Borowitz for NBC. It aired from September 10, 1990, to May 20, 1996. The series stars Will Smith as a fictionalized version of himself, a street-smart ...
'', when
Will Smith
Willard Carroll Smith II (born September 25, 1968), also known by his stage name The Fresh Prince, is an American actor and rapper. He began his acting career starring as a fictionalized version of himself on the NBC sitcom '' The Fresh ...
's character takes boxing lessons from an attractive instructor named Helena.
The fifth season finale of ''
Daria
''Daria'' is an American adult animated sitcom created by Glenn Eichler and Susie Lewis Lynn. The series ran from March 3, 1997, to January 21, 2002, on MTV. It focuses on the title character, Daria Morgendorffer, an intelligent, cynical high ...
'', "Boxing Daria," takes inspiration from the film's title.
See also
*
List of American films of 1993
*
Amputee fetishism
References
External links
*
*
*
*
''Boxing Helena'', A Film Reviewby
James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli (born September 25, 1967) is an American film critic and former engineer. His reviews are mainly published on his blog ''ReelViews.'' Approved as a critic by the aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, he has published two collections of r ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boxing Helena
1993 films
1993 independent films
1990s mystery thriller films
1993 romantic drama films
1990s thriller drama films
American independent films
American mystery drama films
American romantic drama films
American mystery thriller films
Films scored by Graeme Revell
Films about kidnapping
Films about amputees
Films about dreams
Films directed by Jennifer Chambers Lynch
Films shot in Atlanta
Films shot in Georgia (U.S. state)
Films shot in Los Angeles
1990s romantic thriller films
Republic Pictures films
Orion Pictures films
American romantic thriller films
1993 directorial debut films
Golden Raspberry Award winning films
1990s English-language films
1990s American films