Kinsey

DE/US/GB (c) 2004 N1 European Filmproduktions-GmbH & Co. KG. D+SC: Bill Condon. DP: Frederick Elmes.
   Starring Liam Neeson (Alfred Kinsey), Laura Linney (Clara McMillen >Kinsey), Chris O'Donnell (Wardell Pomeroy), Peter Sarsgaard (Clyde Martin), Timothy Hutton (Paul Gebhard), John Lithgow (Alfred Kinsey Sr.), Tim Curry (Thurman Rice), Lynn Redgrave (the final interviewee).
    118 min.
    An Icon Entertainment release, German subtitles by Gaby Gehlen.
    Viewed at Berlinale-Palast, Berlin Film Festival (main series, outside competition), 20 Feb 2005.

A first-rate work from Bill Condon (Gods and Monsters) in the style of the Warner Bros. 1930s biopics: the crusader fighting for truth despite contempt and prejudice. The theme of the film: the infinite variety of life, also finding its expression in sex. Kinsey belongs also to the current trend of re-discovering homosexuality in the mainstream (cf. De-Lovely, Alexander). Thanks to the excellent actors, a moving experience. Condon handles tenderly private moments such as Kinsey's bitter clash with his father, and his repeating the pattern with his own son. The Kinseys' own marital life is handled with humour.

George Cukor tackled the theme in his The Chapman Report, also based on Kinsey, hampered by the Code, yet including the magisterial Claire Bloom story.

***½