"Crimes of Passion", an incredibly bizarre, sexually charged drama, provides interesting material with which inimitable filmmaker Ken Russell can work. It's as stylish as anything he's done, and maintains a gritty, fairly sleazy atmosphere and a deliberate pace. Kathleen Turner is striking in the role of "China Blue", a lady with a double life: by day she's a fashion designer (real name Joanna Crane),by night she's a hooker. She fascinates two men, one of them an ordinary guy named Bobby Grady (John Laughlin),the other a fanatical, so-called "preacher" named Peter Shayne (Anthony Perkins) who claims to be out to "save" her. Bobby was hired by Joannas' boss to tail her, and she presents the young man with a fresh view of the world; his relationship with his uptight wife Amy (Annie Potts) has soured after years of marriage, and he's happy to meet somebody who doesn't have any hangups about being intimate. The movie is never quite as outrageous as some viewers may expect, but that doesn't mean that there isn't some explicit imagery here and there. Its few sex scenes are done in a surprisingly tasteful manner, but its dialogue is quite kinky, witty, and delicious; it's amazing to hear ever reliable Perkins, extremely well cast in one of his typical nutty roles, utter lots of obscenities. He's just fantastic as always, and the lovely Turner delivers a multi dimensional performance worthy of some respect. Laughlin and Potts are both fine, and the cast also features people such as Bruce Davison, Stephen Lee, Norman Burton, Peggy Feury, and Gerald S. O'Loughlin, but it's the two leads that truly command your attention. Working from a screenplay by producer Barry Sandler, Russell injects the film with plenty of humour; just the idea of Perkins carrying erotic paraphernalia around with him is a hoot. (There's a vibrator, in particular, that will prove to be a very important prop later on.) It may require a bit of patience on the part of some viewers due to its unhurried nature, and of course some may find the subject matter a turn off. Those who don't will be amused by the sordid story and all of the trappings of the milieu. In the end, this isn't something that can be easily forgotten. Seven out of 10.

Some incredible performances here don't hide the fact that a convoluted and unbelievable story prevents this from being a good film. Certainly, it is intense and riveting, a creepy noir like view of a world most people don't want to explore but can't help because of the constant presence of sordid stories like this in the news. Kathleen Turner returns to the type of intense sexuality that she had played in her first film, "Body Heat", portraying a character with two lives. She spends her days working in a fashion house, accused unknowing to her of selling company patterns,, and working at night as a fetish specialty hooker name China Blue.

Two men have an impact on her life and how it progresses (or possibly ends),and they are as different as different can be. There is phony street preacher Anthony Perkins in a role that even out creeps Norman Bates, and the unhappily married John Laughlin, seemingly stuck in is marriage to Annie Potts. Completely different than her "Designing Women" character of Mary Jo Shively, Potts' character constantly belittles her husband in a subtle way over every little thing, and when he is hired to follow Turner, Laughlin Falls prey to her intensity.

But there's more to China Blue than her fake blond wig and her outward toughness. Perkins observes everything that Turner does, ultimately becoming a psycho stalker. Laughlin faces the truth about his marriage, but can he save Turner from herself? The way this film is directed is obviously perverse but it is often funny with sexual innuendo through clever lines and hysterically ridiculous characters. Louise Sorel, one of my favorite soap divas, has a hysterical scene as the wife of a millionaire who hires Turner for a threesome and talks business while oggling Turner. This was right before she began playing Augusta Lockridge, an equally outrageous socialite on "Santa Barbara", and she is deliciously nasty.

A touching sequence involving a wife searching for a prostitute for her dying husband is perhaps the most important scene in the film because this is where Turner begins to reveal what is underneath the surface. It is her performance, along with Perkins outrageous melodramatic theatrics, that is commanding and worthy of seeing at least once. It's the type of film that I could only get through once, and many film watchers will be quickly turned off. I could easily see this more through John Waters' eyes than Ken Russell's, because the seriousness in which he presents this requires a lot more tongue in cheek.

Ken Russell as has been said many times before always was an interesting and unique director, though also understandably controversial. Crimes of Passion is not quite Women in Love and The Devils among his best but it is certainly much better than Lisztomania and Gothic. Crimes of Passion may not be perfect, with the score rather repetitive and excessively utilised and Annie Potts' "deadly serious" performance at odds with the rest of the performances(which are campier and broader),she is a talented actress who wasn't able to play to her strengths. To a lesser extent also the scene with the vibrator and the blow-up doll didn't make much sense and reminiscent of the irrelevant excesses that Russell could be prone to, though admittedly it did have some entertainment value. Crimes of Passion does look great though, very stylishly filmed with some garishness that meshed perfectly within the atmosphere. The scene with the couple in bed in conversation is shot cleverly too with a several-minute non-break shot. The satire is very witty and the funny moments are enough to make you laugh-out-loud, while with the story Crimes of Passion is not plot-heavy but it does keep one's attention and is paced well, never what you can deem as dull. As well as funny parts, there are also some poignant parts like the woman with the terminally ill husband and some shocking ones with the scene with the cop. The ending is a shocker too, though also may be a head-scratcher for some. The sex scenes are very lurid but also very sensual as well, and Russell directs with not that much restraint- here adopting the pulls no punches approach- but there is nothing really distasteful either. Kathleen Turner gives one of her best performances, she is very sexy and her performance is daring and even with the theatrical style of acting here(in general not just with her) she manages to make China sympathetic. Anthony Perkins evokes Norman Bates and brilliantly, insanely psychopathic that it's scary as well as somewhat campy. John Laughlin's role is smaller and he is not as experienced or as good as Turner and Perkins but he acquits himself well. In conclusion, a very good film, not for everybody and Russell personally has done better but it's easy to see why it's won over people here and it does deserve its deemed cult classic status. 8/10 Bethany Cox