Summary
Crimes Of Passionis a 1984 thriller directed byKen Russell.
She crafts elaborate backstories for her clients.
But unlike a story likePretty Woman, Joanna does not need the money she takes from her clients.
Image Via New World Pictures
Crass, hypocritical, and a little creepy, Shayne’s pursuit of Joanna is relentless.
There’s an abject menace to the character of Reverend Peter Shayne.
His continual forays into sin do nothing to sway his interest in her China Blue persona.
“What are you gonna do?
Fuck someone to death?”
“Only the right woman.”
He mutters a mix of prayers and vulgarity to himself.
Bobby Grady is stuck in a perpetual emotional adolescence that he only begins to leave after meeting China Blue.
“And Kathleen Turner as China Blue is the funniest, most quick-witted among them.
A lot of the explicit sex and erotica of the film is inextricably tied up with the comedy.
Herpainted lips and husky voicewrap around little quips and jokes effortlessly.
When she first meets the Reverend Peter Shayne, he implores her with a shaking voice and pleading eyes.
“Do you recognize me, child?”
to which she takes a drag off her cigarette with sultry affection"Sorry.
I never forget a face.
Image via New World Pictures
Especially when I’ve sat on it.
Anything and everything can be an innuendo the way she says it.
In a way, this parallels Bobby’s humor too.
Image via New World Pictures
He’s not a bad, or even insensitive, person.
He knowssomethingis wrong, he just can’t parse out what.
And he makes genuinely earnest attempts at communication with Amy it’s just too late.
He misses the emotional intimacy of sex with his wife not the actual act itself.
The emotional intimacy she finds with Bobby terrifies her far more than being stalked by Reverend Peter Shayne.
Crimes of Passionis currently available to stream on Pluto in the U.S.
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