Kinsey

Fox Searchlight Pictures | Release Date: November 12, 2004

5.6	USER SCORE Mixed or average reviews based on 72 Ratings

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juliankleissJan 13, 2011

This movie seeks to explain the roots of American 20th century prudence towards sexuality, also showing how this kind of (non-)education lead to the emotional and physical suffering of many. Kinsey includes topics such as feminism,This movie seeks to explain the roots of American 20th century prudence towards sexuality, also showing how this kind of (non-)education lead to the emotional and physical suffering of many. Kinsey includes topics such as feminism, homosexuality, and problems of scientific research. Kinsey seeks to liberate sexuality, but also shows that social constraints regarding sex (ranging from adultery to zoophilia) do have the purpose of preventing that someone gets hurt. Eventually the film compares marriage to a happy tree. The tree is not free due to being rooted, but having roots is a nice thing in itself for we humans strive to overcome nihilism with love.… Expand

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

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greggiehoooMay 27, 2022

Great acting. Powerful and important story for 2004. Also just informative in general. Never knew this history.

0 of 3 users found this helpful03

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FrankO.Jan 25, 2006

Better than I expected, like the use of color and blk/white...great sequence learning their interview process...Neeson and Linney were very good. Peter Sarsgaard is underrated actor; plot kept moving, Bill Condon did great job just as he did Better than I expected, like the use of color and blk/white...great sequence learning their interview process...Neeson and Linney were very good. Peter Sarsgaard is underrated actor; plot kept moving, Bill Condon did great job just as he did with Gods and Monsters - another good flick you should see.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful

TonyS.Feb 4, 2006

Moving, complex, educational, and fully satisfying. Neeson and Linney head up as good a cast as you can get. Compelling both as a tribute to the modern scientific spirit and as a critique of pre-modern moralistic rigidity.

0 of 0 users found this helpful

TonyOct 11, 2005

Structurally sound and extremely well acted, Kinsey is a reminder of both how things change and how they remain essentially the same.

0 of 0 users found this helpful

AbbyLJul 3, 2007

Very complex and interesting view.

0 of 0 users found this helpful

FilipeNetoSep 15, 2021

Alfred Kinsey is still a little consensual figure today. Appointed justly as a pioneer and "father" of Sexology and scientific studies around human sexuality, he fought for these studies at a time of enormous social conservatism and managedAlfred Kinsey is still a little consensual figure today. Appointed justly as a pioneer and "father" of Sexology and scientific studies around human sexuality, he fought for these studies at a time of enormous social conservatism and managed to publish two important scientific studies in the area, which greatly shocked and changed the way in which society and the academic community faced sex. However, as later studies have argued, the methods used by Kinsey were not always the most impartial and correct, such as the claim that he was too much concerned with homosexuality and the way in which he encouraged his students and collaborators to record, in detail, the sexual encounters and practices they had in their own privacy for study purposes. The film, in part, reflects the controversies, but highlights the essential: the pioneering spirit of a man who made sex known to a society that refused to even utter that word, paving the way for the changes and upheavals that, decades later, would allow the Sexual Revolution.

After these introductory words, I don't think it's worth talking about the script. With a non-linear narrative, the film addresses several important moments in the scientist's life, with his origins in an ultra-conservative milieu (his father was a particularly harsh and puritan religious preacher) and the way he managed to break away from that milieu to graduate in sciences, becoming a distinguished entomologist and, later, dedicating himself to the study of sexuality, in part driven by events in his personal and marital life. The film does not have an erotic charge, as one might think at first, but the dialogues are full of varied allusions to sexuality (acts, positions, specific practices, fantasies, perversions, etc.) and this is as didactic as it is unpleasant, so I personally advise against the film for minors.

Liam Neeson is an excellent actor, but this film is far from being one of the best and most relevant in his extensive filmography. Still, it's worth highlighting the actor's commitment and the way he managed to give the character an aura of charisma, like a lone crusader in a very personal war. Beside her, the beautiful Laura Linney gave life to a dedicated and liberal wife, with a free spirit, but faithful to the love that was born in her marriage. Personally, I think she was even better than Neeson, stealing attention whenever she shows up and turning the character into someone who is easy to like. The reward was her nomination for the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. The film also features appearances by other well-known actors such as John Lithgow, Timothy Hutton, Chris O'Donnell, Peter Sarsgaard, Oliver Platt and Tim Curry. Everyone, without major exceptions, made a good contribution to the film and did a positive job.

Technically, it's a low-key film, one that doesn't overwhelm and leaves the script and cast to the full attention of the audience. The cinematography is very good and works very well, as is the editing work, which gives the film a pleasant pace and allows the two and a half hours to pass without the audience realizing it. The film is set in the mid-twentieth century, and this is achieved very effectively through the sets, a series of props (the telephone, for example, or even the black-and-white radio and newspapers, and the old cars) and very dated but very elegant clothing. The film doesn't have very obvious effects, but what was used has quality and works well.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

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