The_Film_Cricket To understand a person's fetish, my guess is that you would have to share that fetish. Maybe that's why it's hard to get close to Sandra Larson, the necrophiliac at the center of 'Kissed', a bold film by Canadian director Lynn Stopkewich. This was the film that caused a huge stink at the Toronto Film Festival only because it is about a necrophiliac.But Stopkewich walks a very fine line to avoid making the film exploitive or ridiculous. She could have made the worst film of the year but her frankness and restraint keep the viewer fascinated but not repelled.The center of the film is Sandra who from childhood has had a fascination with death. She describes one summer with her friend when they would find dead animals and have funerals for them. At nightfall she would perform the strange ritual of shrouding the body and then rubbing it on her skin which she calls 'anointing'.As a young woman (played by Molly Parker) working in a flower shop she is overjoyed when she is allowed to make a delivery to the local funeral home and soon she is working there. When she touches the bodies we don't sense a sick fascination but a passage, a transcendence which she calls 'crossing over'. When she touches the bodies there is a heavenly light, accompanied by an angelic chorus. This could have been done in very poor taste but we understand from the intensity in Parker's performance that there is something very serious going on, something about setting them free, 'Each of them has its own wisdom, innocence, happiness, grief. I see it' While in college she meets a man who, oddly enough, is fascinated by what she is doing. 'Why would you want to be an embalmer?' he asks her on their first meeting. 'Because of the bodies, I make love to them' she says without missing a beat. He is interested in her attraction but doesn't understand the emotional bond. He grows jealous of her attraction to the dead and is willing to do anything to gain her affections.The scenes in which she performs her rituals are done with extreme restraint. Stopkewich uses her camera to suggest what Sandra is doing but then pulls back so that he have only the idea. The movie is never interested in the mechanics of Sandra's sexuality but more in its spiritual nature.

rqwxyz Maybe the greatest achievement of the film is that it was able to deal with an subject such as necrophilia without falling into tastelessness. It's easy getting horrified at the idea of people being sexually attracted for corpses, but the relationship of mankind with death (That primigenial and fascinating fear) can go that far and, if you think of it, it goes way far beyond . If you are not willing to get into any reflexions about how the dead are treated, you may fell uneasy about the film. The contrast between Sandra and the other people manipulating bodies (the teachers, the embalmer) is rather eloquent.But what I personally liked the best about it is how it figures relationships, elucidating the insane need of one not having the other have its own and private corner, the need of forcing the other to share it, and the woe that comes from not being able to stand it. In this line, necrophilia becomes just an excuse.

parallelis This film has a very haunting, thoughtful and beautiful feel to it. The first time I saw it was at a midnight showing in the only theater willing to show it in my city (Riverside, soCal). I was totally in awe at the simplicity of the direction, the quiet, slow pace and the really great, understated, naturalistic acting. I'm studying film-making (film editing in particular) and I appreciate it now for yet more reasons. God, I wish they'd release a DVD. Kissed is one of my favorite movies of all time due to it's (seemingly) effortless yet complicated emotional tone, it's respectful and questioning treatment of it's subject matter and main character, but after all the analysis (for me) the most important and enduring aspect of Kissed is the simple, intangible emotions it quietly and slowly draws out of me. That makes it a successful and wonderful movie, in my opinion.

ScoobyD I commend the filmmakers for attempting to put on screen such a difficult subject matter as necrophilia with integrity and complexity. To its credit, the movie creates a pretty accurate depiction of one of the forms of necrophilia: the gentle curiosity and obsession with freshly dead corpses. This is relieving, because the other two forms aren't quite as viewer friendly. However, there is a reason why more films aren't made about necrophiliac protagonists. They are very hard to empathize with. This film makes no real attempt at allowing us to connect to with Sandra, and as a result it is not so much a journey we share with her but instead one that we simply observe. Like watching a movie through scratched glass. Not to mention the altogether contrived relationship that emerges in the later half of the film.So if you're looking for an accurate depiction of necrophilia, go for it. If you're looking for some compelling drama or something to watch on a date, you may find yourself needing a stiff drink.