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Kinsey (Two-Disc Special Edition)
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| Genre | Performing Arts |
| Format | Multiple Formats, Subtitled, Dubbed, Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen, NTSC, Special Edition, Dolby, Limited Edition See more |
| Contributor | Timothy Hutton, Dylan Baker, Bill Condon, Tim Curry, John McMartin, William Sadler, Liam Neeson, John Lithgow, Julianne Nicholson, Laura Linney, Oliver Platt, Peter Sarsgaard, Chris O'Donnell See more |
| Language | English |
| Runtime | 1 hour and 58 minutes |
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Product Description
ALFRED KINSEY WAS A MAN DRIVEN BY SCIENTIFIC PASSION & PERSONAL DEMONS TO INVESTIGATE THE ELUSIVE MYSTERY OF HUMAN SEXUALITY. THIS PROVOCATIVE DRAMA DARES TO LIFT THE VEIL OF SHAME FROM A SOCIETY IN WHICH SEX WAS HIDDEN, KNOWLEDGE WAS DANGEROUS & TALKING ABOUT IT WAS THE ULTIMATE TABOO.
Product details
- Aspect Ratio : 2.35:1
- Is Discontinued By Manufacturer : No
- MPAA rating : R (Restricted)
- Product Dimensions : 0.7 x 7.5 x 5.4 inches; 0.01 ounces
- Item model number : FXSE2227869DVD
- Director : Bill Condon
- Media Format : Multiple Formats, Subtitled, Dubbed, Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen, NTSC, Special Edition, Dolby, Limited Edition
- Run time : 1 hour and 58 minutes
- Release date : January 9, 2007
- Actors : Liam Neeson, Laura Linney, Chris O'Donnell, Peter Sarsgaard, Timothy Hutton
- Dubbed: : English, French
- Subtitles: : English, Spanish
- Language : English (Dolby Digital 5.1), English (DTS 5.1), French (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround), Spanish (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround)
- Studio : Fox Searchlight
- ASIN : B0007PALGQ
- Writers : Bill Condon
- Number of discs : 2
- Best Sellers Rank: #49,116 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
- #466 in Performing Arts (Movies & TV)
- #8,692 in Drama DVDs
- Customer Reviews:
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Over the years, details about the man himself have become more public, and it becomes clear that Kinsey was (surprise!) not actually a perfect human being. Well, my own search for one of those still continues. :-)
It should not be surprising to learn that Kinsey was a driven man ("relentless"). He was a workaholic. Before even beginning his research into sex, he collected a MILLION specimens of the gall-wasp, and made his reputation as a biologist. Something else the film pays little attention to: he wrote one of the standard college textbooks on biology, which sold very well for decades and made him a much more independent man.
I'm not sure that the film deals completely with Kinsey's apparent awakening to his own homosexuality. But it certainly does not skate over this interesting fact.
Kinsey's sexual orientation was not his fatal flaw, in my opinion. That flaw may be summed up in one simple sentence: "I can live without sex, but I can't live without love." Kinsey was a man of his times, and so he was a behaviorist. He refused to deal with love, because he couldn't measure it. (And there's a nice question: how indeed can you measure the infinite?) So Kinsey collected samples, and counted. His entire research on one human being was reduced to one Hollerith card (AKA "IBM punch card," something which I believe no longer exists).
But still --- the man was not a devil; he was basically a worker-bee. Who else could have produced his two monumental works on "Sexual Behavior in the Human Male" and "Sexual Behavior in the Human Female?" Mistitled works, though: they should have been called "Sexual Behavior in the White American Male" and "Sexual Behavior in the White American Female."
All of this complexity is on view in this film, which really surprised me. The film avoids painting Kinsey as a Great Liberator, and it also avoids painting him as a Great Satan. What he was is quite obvious: a man who did objective research into things which had previously been unmentionable in Puritan America.
An excellent movie!
Written and directed by Bill Condon, this film recounts the tale of Kinsey's professional career, from his early days as a Harvard researcher looking at gall wasps through his career at Indiana University, first as a biologist, and then as director of the research project and institute that today bears his name.
Kinsey is a complex character - perhaps the only way he could get away with his study in the environment of mid-century America was that he was the quintessential academic, in dress, demeanor, and attitude. His process of research, be it on gall wasps or on human subjects, was exactingly clinical. The essence of this devotion and adherence to objective procedure is captured in the film (both in terms of wasps and in terms of people).
One exchange between Kinsey and his fellow researcher Clyde Martin illustrates the point:
Alfred Kinsey: 'The doctors say my heart sounds like a cement mixer.'
Clyde Martin: 'At least they found one.'
Kinsey was aided by his wife, the free-thinking graduate student Clara McMillan. While a biology professor, Kinsey's openness made him a magnet for students to seek him out; sometimes their questions were regarding personal problems. When Kinsey sought out guidance in clinical research, he was frustrated to find there was none, even in medical literature, to help guide him in his counseling for the students. This inspired Kinsey to research, and even to offer classes dealing with the subject (these human sexuality classes are still offered at Indiana University, as well as other universities across the country).
Kinsey's work derived from interviews with literally thousands of subjects, data from whom was collected and compiled, and finally distilled into a major report, 'Sexual Behaviour in the Human Male', published in 1948. While Kinsey had assured the university and those funding his research that his report would be objective and descriptive rather than prescriptive, it was perhaps inevitable that Kinsey would climb down from this pedestal and make the statement that, based on the observable evidence, there is a much wider range to what constitutes 'being normal' than was previously held (particularly in polite, post-Victorian-morality society). This set off a firestorm of controversy the engulfed his research at the same time as the 'red scare' was becoming a prominent issue in the United States.
Kinsey's follow-up volume on human sexuality in females was seen as an attack on family values and 'the American way', and Kinsey's faith in his own processes and work was tested as his health began to falter at the same time. However, the groundwork had been laid, and the field continued to grow and flourish through the rest of the century, both through Kinsey's own institute as well as others founded later.
Condon's direction and writing is very clever, edging between documentary form at times and dramatic play at others. It includes a bit of irony in one exchange:
Reporter: 'Any plans on a Hollywood picture based on the book?'
Alfred Kinsey: 'I can't think of anything more pointless.'
Condon interviewed many of Kinsey's colleagues prior to writing, in essence using Kinsey's own technique. Liam Neeson plays the title role well, with clinical detachment and academic concern held in balance with his obvious passion for his subject. Laura Linney turns in a great performance as Clara; the three other roles of note include Tim Curry as the jealous faculty colleague, Peter Sarsgaard as close research colleague Clyde Martin (who lets his own personal involvement with both Kinsey and his wife create a bit of trouble for the group), and Oliver Platt, who plays the late, great Herman Wells, the visionary leader of Indiana University who hid his own sexual secrets fairly well through his career (for a gay man to be successful in Indiana during that time was a remarkable feat; that one should embrace controversies such as Kinsey, which was courting disaster, was astonishing).
The style of the film is very true to the mid-century; sets, costumes, vehicles, manners - all of these things combine to give a very good depiction of the time and place. This in many ways blunts the subject, but in other ways reinforces it - sexuality is not the domain just of the young, or just of the modern, or just of anything, but can be found in every time and place, including the more antiseptic and conservative of locations. Perhaps this is also part of Condon's point with the film, being produced at a time of resurgent conservatism in North America.
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DVD Extras
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There is a single-disc and double disc version available. The single disc has a commentary track by Bill Condon, subtitles available, and options for wide-screen or full-screen viewing.
The double-disc version includes all of the above, plus Spanish and French audio tracks, featurettes including a brief documentary on the Kinsey Report, twenty deleted scenes, an interactive sex questionnaire, and an overview of sex education at the Kinsey Institute.
Also, be sure and listen in the film for Ella Fitzgerald's rendition of 'Too Darn Hot', a Cole Porter song that has the lyric, 'According to the Kinsey Report...'
Top reviews from other countries
reality of human beings. In making his scientific study of human sexual behaviour - Kinsey ADDED IMMEASURABLY
to the possibility of HUMAN HAPPINESS.
While Kinsey was a professional scientist, his results, books and papers came over as dry facts rather than the marvel
and liberty that they would become known for. - The story of Kinsey's work is made beautifully human - at times
laugh out loud, and off your chair humorous! What he didn't know - and couldn't imagine was the breadth of
human experience - happiness - and misery - that fearful lack of communication brought with it.
To be happy - sexually gratified might be sinful. But once realised - was not something that the liberated human
being wanted to lose ever again - unless so guilt ridden that they felt they were unworthy of such happiness - fearing
God's punishment!
As God allowed Kinsey to study what he did. That his works were published. And that he lived to old age a celebrated respected scientist. Is a lesson. - I believe God is happy with his work - adding to the wealth of potential human happiness.
The film is beautifully made. The subject is delicately handled. The cast demonstrate the range of thoughts and
feelings on the subject of sex, God and happiness, at a time more rigid than our own.
This film is an EDUCATION NOT TO BE MISSED! And continues to be so.
Watch this film and and know that you are not alone. Others have wondered ... am I right? Normal?
Lovable? Find that everyone is. Be happy. All are entitled to be who they are. To enjoy this brief span of life on earth.
So watch the film and praise the Lord - for all the rich possibilities that life itself has to offer.
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