A 1993 Australian production (released in Europe the next year and in US video/cable markets in 1995), GROSS MISCONDUCT is a sex-harassment tale with a twist. The premise is nothing new, but Gothic atmosphere and a surprise ending compensate for cliches.
Justin Thorne (Jimmy Smits), an American hired to teach at an Australian university, is a family man with a sensual, flirtatious side that makes him extremely popular with students, and co-ed Jennifer Carter (Naomi Watts), develops a strong crush. She baby-sits for Justin's family, and attempts,
unsuccessfully, to seduce him. Despite her failure, she pens her fantasies in a diary her father later finds and reads. When confronted, Jennifer claims she was coerced into sex with Mr. Thorne. As rumors fly about the pair, Justin advises Jennifer to transfer to another class and stop
baby-sitting his kids. She throws a fit, and while trying to calm her down, he succumbs to temptation and makes love to the student. Later police find Jennifer alone and freezing on the streets; she says she can't remember what happened. Her father's lawyers convince even Jennifer that she has
been raped, and a formal accusation is filed against the teacher.
Under oath Jennifer admits some of her diary is fiction. Nonetheless, Justin is found guilty. Jennifer, shaken, goes home with her father. He fondles her as she bathes, revealing their incestuous relationship. This time she refuses his advances, and in self-defense stabs and kills him. Her
blood-covered visit to the Thorne house clears Justin's name. For its first 90 minutes, GROSS MISCONDUCT is average melodrama. The initial plot, in which Smits is the victim in a case of sexual harassment, continues a '90s gender-paranoia trend (DISCLOSURE, THE CRUSH, OLEANNA, DREAM LOVER, and the
Italian film LA CONDANNA/THE CONVICTION all portray men as victims of conniving, evil women), and Justin gets a thoroughgoing sympathetic treatment despite his one transgression. The final twist succeeds because it is a surprise, and because it forces one to reevaluate the narrative in light of
who the real villain is--a man, but not the defendant.
While Smits is excellent as the wrongly-accused, other performances lag, especially Sarah Chadwick's uneven turn as Justin's long-suffering wife. GROSS MISCONDUCT's standout quality is atmosphere. Protagonists live in huge, extravagant homes. Lighting, clothes, and decorations are dark. Fires are
always burning, and there is an omnipresent sense of mystery and foreboding. Ambiance is much like a Gothic novel, and the concluding bloodshed, though unexpected, fits the fatal mood. (Extensive nudity, sexual situations, graphic violence, profanity.) leave a comment
