Review of Henry & June (1990) by Ian G — 11 Nov 2009

Henry and June is a sensual and atmospheric film based on the diaries of Anais Nin. It takes place in early 1930's Paris, where Nin is just starting to explore writing (in the opening scene, she is trying to get her book on D.H. Lawrence published). Nin (played by Maria de Medeiros--perhaps better known as Bruce Willis' girlfriend in Pulp Fiction) is married to a dull man named Hugo. Through Hugo, she meets Henry Miller--a brash American who is also working on a book--Tropic of Cancer. Nin is far more interested in Henry than in Hugo and it's easy to see why. Where Hugo is eternally nice, a good provider, and a dull bu dedicated partner, Henry is exciting, animalistic, and even a bit cruel. It's the typical bad boy vs. nice guy plot line. However, Henry also has a wife, June, an equally brash New Yorker whose graceful, erotic beauty (June is played by Uma Thurman) is juxtaposed against her thick Brooklyn accent and violent temper tantrums. Over the course of the movie, Nin falls in love with both Henry and June--or rather, she falls in love with what they represent: a bohemian, freewheeling lifestyle, a dedication to art, and lack of inhibitions concerning--ah--the art of love.

When Henry and June first came out, it was rated NC-17. However, I'd consider it more of a soft "R" now. There are naked ladies and 4-letter words aplenty (hey, it is Paris after all), but the most erotic aspects of the film are the little details--like the fact that all the women wear garters and stockings, and the use of Luis Bunuel's film Un chien andalou in one scene. In fact, the same details that create the erotic texture of the film and the same period details that transport the viewer to another time and another place--a Paris both innocent and seductive, before WWII and the Nazi occupation. Like the transformation of Paris, we are privileged to see Anais Nin's transformation from naive and curious, writing only in diaries she lets no one see, to a fully blossomed woman and writer.