Main Cast: Jay Brazeau, Molly Parker, Peter Outerbridge
Release Year: 1996
Country: CA
Run Time: 78 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
In this strikingly original independent drama from Canada, a young woman finds that her obsession with death is challenged when she falls in love with a handsome medical student. Sandra Larson (Molly Parker) was fascinated with the dead from an early age; as a girl, she and her best friend would find the bodies of birds and small animals and devise funeral rituals for them, though Sandra always took these adventures far more seriously than her compatriot. As Sandra matures into womanhood, her obsession with the deceased begins to develop a sexual component, but her necrophilia is not about lust so much as a spiritual yearning for the light and calm of death's embrace. In college, Sandra studies embalming, which allows her to study and embrace death on a daily basis, and she finds work at a funeral home owned by Mr. Wallis (Jay Brazeau), a man who in his way shares her obsessions. One day at a coffeeshop, Sandra meets Matt (Peter Outerbridge), who is studying to be a doctor; she senses that he knows her secrets, and a tentative romance blooms between them. But while Matt wants to "cure" Sandra of her intimate feelings for death, she finds that he's not capable of understanding her erotic nature, which is directed within herself more than outward toward others. Understandably controversial upon its initial release (though far more subtle and poetic than one might expect given the subject matter), Kissed was the first feature film from director Lynne Stopkewich, who previously distinguished herself as a production designer. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Review
Kissed is a film about a woman who finds spiritual meaning in her life by making love to the dead. It sounds like the stuff of cheap horror movies, but in the hands of director Lynne Stopkewich, it becomes almost religious. Molly Parker stars as the death-obsessed Sandra, who works at a funeral home and believes that she is ushering souls on their way with a final offering of ecstasy from the living world. The story takes a more earthly turn when Sandra meets Matt (Peter Outerbridge), who soon finds himself competing with corpses for his beloved's attentions. This is a strange film, based on Barbara Gowdy's story "We Seldom Look on Love" (and with echoes of Kathe Koja) but amazingly enough -- given the subject matter -- manages to be not only tasteful, but oddly heartwarming. If you can't get beyond the word "necrophilia," you still won't enjoy it, and there's a pretty strong embalming scene which may upset the squeamish, but open-minded viewers are likely to be both surprised and moved by this dark gem. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
Jay Brazeau - Mr. Wallis; Joe Maffei; Robert Thurston; Amber Warnat; Janet Craig; Edward Davey; Tim Dixon; Bill Finck; Annabel Kershaw; Jessie Winter Mudie; Natasha Morley - Young Sandra; James Timmons
Credit
Jessica Fraser - Associate Producer, Lynne Stopkewich - Director, Lynne Stopkewich - Editor, John Pozer - Editor, Peter Roeck - Editor, John Pozer - Executive Producer, Don MacDonald - Composer (Music Score), Kristy Lee Thirsk - Composer (Music Score), Don MacDonald - Songwriter, Kristy Lee Thirsk - Songwriter, Eric Mcnab - Production Designer, Gregory Middleton - Cinematographer, Lynne Stopkewich - Producer, Dean English - Producer, Marti Richa - Sound/Sound Designer, Susan Taylor - Sound/Sound Designer, Lynne Stopkewich - Screenwriter, Angus Fraser - Screenwriter
The film stars Molly Parker as Sandra Larson, a young woman whose fixation on death leads her to study embalming at a mortuary school, where in turn she finds herself drawn toward feelings of necrophilia. Peter Outerbridge also stars as Matt, a fellow student who develops romantic feelings for Sandra, and so must learn to accept her sexual proclivities.
Despite being allowed a substantial grant, Stopkewich went almost $30,000 into debt and cost her company $400,000 so she could complete shooting the film.[1]
Tim Dixon - Father Larson, Owner of Larson's Flowers
References
^ Kalli Paakspuu, "Lynne Stopkewich: Abject Sexualities" Great Canadian Film Directors, ed. George Melnyk. Edmonton: University of Alberta Press (2007): 394
