Another Nine & A Half Weeks

Two years after the abrupt ending of his intense 9 1/2-week relationship with gallery-owner Elizabeth, rich sexual deviate John Gray (Mickey Rourke) is obsessed with finding her. Gray attends a Paris art auction where he meets fashion designer Lea Calot (Angie Everhart), a friend of Elizabeth's. Lea reveals that she knows the details of their kinky affair, but that Elizabeth is now married. She takes Gray from a modeling show to wild clubs and finally into a public street corner for sex. Later, they finish off a fashion show with a menage a trois until Lea's partner Vittorio (Steven Berkoff) jealously interrupts to tell Gray that Elizabeth is actually dead. The next day, Lea brings Gray to the scene of Elizabeth's death, revealing the truth about her drug-addled past. After passionate intercourse involving flower petals, Gray leaves Lea, realizing their affair is doomed. Lea's desperate efforts to rekindle their passion result in him forcing her to perform with an abusive male prostitute. Realizing that he is no longer into such perversity, Gray stops the man from completely degrading her and leaves her for good.

Looking bloated, bored, and constantly sweaty, Mickey Rourke seems an unlikely candidate for romantic-leading-man roles. Maybe not even leading-corpse roles, judging by this tired performance. He mumbles his way through this dreck with a complete lack of emotion or interest. On the other hand, even if he were at the height of his powers, it would do little to help this picture. The awful screenplay quickly drains any remaining interest and depth from the situations presented in the original NINE 1/2 WEEKS (1986). Following the lead of Gray (Rourke), the characters are all one-dimensional droids, poorly constructed and lifelessly portrayed by a "no-name" cast. Angie Everhart, although stale and unbelievable as Lea, does show improvement from her dreadful debut in TALES FROM THE CRYPT PRESENTS BORDELLO OF BLOOD (1996). Directed by Anne Goursaud (EMBRACE OF THE VAMPIRE, POISON IVY II: LILY), the film is technically adequate, but the camerawork rarely capitalizes on Everhart's ravishing beauty. Goursaud opts instead for a dark and muted look that winds up making the proceedings even more dreary. The lowpoints of this "erotic" dud are unquestionably the unarousing sex scenes, which will bore viewers to the extent that the only pleasure to be produced is in wondering if Everhart did her own nude scenes or made use of a body double. (Profanity, adult situations, sexual situations.) leave a comment