Kinsey

Synopsis
Liam Neeson gives a bravura performance as the title character in KINSEY, which details the controversial and dramatic rise of sex researcher Alfred C. Kinsey. Raised in a sexually repressed household with a preacher father (John Lithgow) who believes the zipper is the devil's work, young Kinsey goes against his father's wishes and studies biology, eventually becoming a leading authority on the gall wasp. His skill at classification, organization, and research, combined with his own burgeoning sexuality following his marriage to Clara McMillen (Laura Linney), leads him to begin investigating the nature of human sexuality. Working at Indiana University, Kinsey finds that sex is something many Americans have been waiting a long time to talk about. Unfortunately, others consider his work to be disgusting and want it ended. Writer-director Bill Condon (GODS AND MONSTERS) alternates between short black-and-white scenes of Kinsey answering his own sex survey questions, with longer color scenes that flash back to the important moments of his life. Kinsey's boyhood through his formative years, and his obsessions with the gall wasp and human sexual behavior, are thoroughly documented. The publication of the seminal books SEXUAL BEHAVIOR IN THE HUMAN MALE (1948) and SEXUAL BEHAVIOR IN THE HUMAN FEMALE (1953) mark his primary achievements. Interestingly, it is the second book that causes the biggest panic, as a repressed society refuses to believe that women have the same needs and desires as men. Neeson and Linney make a wonderfully refreshing couple, freely sharing each other for all to see. Peter Sarsgaard, Chris O'Donnell, and Timothy Hutton lend fine supporting work as Kinsey's staff. KINSEY is an enlightening, engaging, yet frightening film, revealing how far the understanding of American sexuality has come--and how far it still has to go.

Reviews
"The director addresses sexuality with candor and wit, but it is the act of research as much as its object that imparts to KINSEY its flush of passion and its rush of romance." (New York Times)

"Keen craftsmanship gets the film out of the gate in a zip....It's one of the year's better movies. Linney is a match for Neeson..." (USA Today)

"Intelligently written and directed with a pleasing frankness....A notable life and a significant film." (Los Angeles Times)

"Liam Neeson essays a brave and often endearing portrait of Kinsey..." (Premiere)

"[T]he film is meticulously researched and thoughtfully balanced....It's a biopic with sass and edge..." (Movieline's Hollywood Life)

"Sarsgaard is characteristically riveting...and every character, however passing, is casually exquisite and exquisitely cast." (Entertainment Weekly)

"[A] scrappy, funny, hot-to-trot biopic....Liam Neeson digs into his best role in years as Kinsey....It's a monumental performance." (Rolling Stone)

"Condon has a real knack for making biopics breathe....He also has an eye for witty detail." (Sight and Sound)

"[T]his is a brave and intelligent which most directors wouldn't have dared attempt." (Uncut)

"Incisive, gripping, and unpreachy, the film will continue to arouse discussion regarding the morality of Kinsey's methods..." (Film Comment)

"Mr. Neeson has never had a richer character to play on screen -- including his landmark role in SCHINDLER'S LIST -- and has seldom displayed such formidable energy and virtuosity." (Wall Street Journal)