Henry & June (1990)

User Rating:

6.2/10   

Director:

Philip Kaufman

Writers (WGA):

Anaïs Nin (book)
Philip Kaufman (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

5 October 1990 (USA)

Genre:

Biography | Drama

Tagline:

A True Adventure More Erotic Than Any Fantasy

Plot:

In 1931 Paris, Anais Nin meets Henry Miller (Fred Ward) and his wife June. Intrigued by them both...

Plot Keywords:

Literary | Upskirt | Muse | 1930s | Bare Breasts

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar.

Cast

Fred Ward	...	Henry Miller
Uma Thurman	...	June Miller
Maria de Medeiros	...	Anaïs Nin
Richard E. Grant	...	Hugo Guiler
Kevin Spacey	...	Richard Osborn
Jean-Philippe Écoffey	...	Eduardo Sanchez (as Jean-Philippe Ecoffey)
Bruce Myers	...	Jack
Juan Luis Buñuel	...	Publisher / editor (as Jean-Luis Bunuel)
Féodor Atkine	...	Paco Miralles
Sylvie Huguel	...	Emilia
Artus de Penguern	...	Brassaï
Pierre Étaix	...	Henry's friend no. 1
Pierre Edernac	...	Henry's friend no.2 - magician
Gaëtan Bloom	...	Henry's friend no.3
Alexandre De Gall	...	Henry's friend no. 4 - clown

Runtime:

136 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Netherlands:16 | Singapore:R21 (cut) | Argentina:18 | Australia:M | Canada:R | Chile:14 (DVD rating) | Chile:18 (original rating) | Finland:K-16 | France:-12 | Germany:16 | Norway:15 | Portugal:M/18 | South Korea:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | USA:NC-17

Filming Locations:

Paris, France

Company:

Walrus & Associates

Trivia:

The movie was shot in 15 weeks in the autumn of 1989.

Quotes:

Richard Osborn: Then he steals my ideas and puts them in his novels.
AnaÔs Nin: Henry wouldn't do that, Richard.
Richard Osborn: I'm sure of it.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Andy Barker, P.I.: Pilot (#1.1)" (2007)

Soundtrack:

Barnacle Bill The Sailor

"Jules et Jim?"

"Henry & June" follows the love triangle of Henry, June, and Anais. The catch is they are all having sex with each other. Not threesomes, but they all get around to it. Anais, like a good wife also allows her husband, Hugo to have sex with her. Such a nice girl.

This is supposed to be a biopic about how Anais helped bring out the talent in Henry Miller's writings and how these three people all had a deep love for each other and blah, blah, blah.

I think "Henry & June" was trying to be an American version of "Jules et Jim." With it's very causal treatment of sex and affairs. But this movie fails to capture any depth in it's characters at all.

Henry and June just come across as horny people and Anais seems to be very confused about love. Hugo is just a moron running around trying to get Anais to stop putting other men's anatomy into her.

Kaufman doesn't sink into Henry's artistic mind or even try to understand who these characters are. We are simply put on a fairly tame, supposedly intellectual sexual journey of Anais Nin.

Not real sure why it got the NC-17, I'm guess it was the homosexual scenes (fairly new to movies in 1990) and the causal treatment of it all.

The bright points are the cinematography and the acting. Fred Ward delivers a performance I didn't know he had in him. The very underrated Uma Thurman is perfect, and Maria de Medeiros plays Anais in a way that is really too wonderful to explain.

But the movie squashes these performances with a fairly boring and unmoving film. 5 out of 10.