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Henry & June

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Wikipedia article




'Henry & June' is a 1990 American biographical drama film directed by Philip Kaufman, and starring Fred Ward, Uma Thurman, and Maria de Medeiros. It is loosely based on the posthumously published 1986 Anas Nin book of the same name, and tells the story of Nin's relationship with Henry Miller and his wife, June.

The film was nominated for Best Cinematography at the 63rd Academy Awards.

The very first film to be given the rare NC-17 (formerly X) rating by the MPAA.

Plot



In 1931 in Paris, France, Anas Nin is in a stable relationship with her husband Hugo, but longs for more out of life. When Nin first meets Henry Miller, he is working on his first novel. Nin is drawn to Miller and his wife June, as well as their bohemian lifestyle. Nin becomes involved in the couple's tormented relationship, having an affair with Miller and also pursuing June. Ultimately, Nin helps Miller to publish his novel 'Tropic of Cancer', but catalyzes the Millers' separation, while she returns to Hugo.

Cast



* Fred Ward as Henry Miller

* Uma Thurman as June Miller

* Maria de Medeiros as Anas Nin

* Richard E. Grant as Hugo

* Kevin Spacey as Richard Osborn

* Jean-Philippe coffey as Eduardo Sanchez (credit spelled as Ecoffey)

* Gary Oldman as Pop

* Artus de Penguern as Brassa

* Liz Hasse as Jean

* Brigitte Lahaie as Henry's prostitute

* Fodor Atkine as Francisco Miralles Arnau

Soundtrack



The soundtrack was arranged by Mark Adler, consisting of period popular songs.

# Jean Lenoir, "Parlez-moi d'amour" (Lucienne Boyer)

# Claude Debussy, 'Six pigraphes antiques': Pour l'gyptienne (Ensemble Musical de Paris)

# Francis Poulenc, "Les chemins de l'amour" (Ransom Wilson and Christopher O'Riley)

# Debussy, 'Petite Suite': "Ballet" (Aloys and Alfons Kontarsky)

# Harry Warren, "I Found a Million Dollar Baby" (Bing Crosby)

# Erik Satie, "Gnossienne No. 3" (Pascal Rog)

# Satie, "Je te veux" (Jean-Pierre Armengaud)

# Debussy, "Sonata for Violin and Piano" (first movement) (Kyung-wha Chung and Radu Lupu)

# Frdric Chopin, Nocturne No. 1 in C Major [sic] (Paul Crossley)

# Georges Auric, "Sous les toits de Paris" (Rene Nazels)

# Jacques Larmanjat, lyrics by Francis Carco, "Le doux caboulot" (Annie Fratellini)

# Debussy, "La plus que lente" (Josef Suk)

# "Je m'ennuie" (Mark Adler)

# "Coralia" (Mark Adler)

# Irving Mills, "St. James Infirmary Blues" (Mark Adler)

# Francisco Trrega, "Gran Vals" (Francisco Trrega)

# Joaquin Nin-Culmell, "Basque Song" (Joaquin Nin-Culmell)

# Vincent Scotto, lyrics by George Koger and H. Vama, "J'ai deux amours" (Josephine Baker)

Reception



Box office

'Henry & June' grossed $11,567,449 in the domestic market and $11,905,000 internationally for a worldwide total of $23,472,449.

Critical reception

The film received mixed reviews from critics. Owen Gleiberman of 'Entertainment Weekly' gave the film a B, but felt that, "Kaufman, trying to deepen the erotic explorations of Unbearable Lightness, ends up with a triangle movie thats watchable but also arty and rather stilted. The biggest disappointment of the film is that, after all the ratings brouhaha, its not very sexy." Janet Maslin of 'The New York Times' noted the film's efforts to present sex in a more artistic, highbrow manner, remarking, "The film's sex scenes, photographed delicately by Philippe Rousselot and directed with great intensity by Mr. Kaufman, are particularly lofty. These sequences, often tinged with symbolism (a hand playing a guitar juxtaposed with a hand on a woman's breast), tend to be self-consciously bold," but felt the film lacked daring.

The film has a 63% approval rating on review aggregate Rotten Tomatoes based on 24 reviews, with an average rating of 6.1/10. The site's consensus reads, "'Henry & June' celebrates sensuality and passion, though the portentous filmmaking drags it down by a large degree".

References




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