Movies - Kinsey

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	Movies - Kinsey

Kinsey is a 2004 semi-biographical film written and directed by Bill Condon. It describes the life of Alfred Kinsey (played by Liam Neeson). As a pioneer in the area of sexology research, his 1948 publication Sexual Behavior in the Human Male (the first of the Kinsey Reports) was one of the first recorded works that scientifically addressed and investigated sexual behavior and its consequences (and lack thereof) in humans. The movie also stars Laura Linney, Chris O’Donnell, Peter Sarsgaard, Timothy Hutton, John Lithgow, Tim Curry, Oliver Platt, and Dylan Baker. Kinsey was nominated for a of awards, winning 10 of them.

Plot

Tagline: Let's talk about sex.

Professor Alfred Kinsey, the protagonist, is being interviewed about his sex history. Through the interview, the salient points in Kinsey's life are revealed to the viewer as flashbacks. There are two sequences: one depicting experiences as a boy scout and the other showing Kinsey's announcement to his disappointed father of his vocational intentions. The scene shifts to Kinsey teaching at Indiana University as a professor of biology lecturing on gall wasps, where the continuous story line starts. Kinsey falls in love with a student in his class (played by Laura Linney) and marries her. They have three kids. Meanwhile at the University, Professor Kinsey, who is affectionately called "Prok" by his graduate students, meets with students afterhours to offer individual sexual advice. While how this practice started is left unclear, it seems the students coming to him now do so based on word of mouth about the quality of his advice.

At a book party celebrating Kinsey's latest publication on gall wasps, Kinsey approaches the dean of students about an open-forum sex education course as opposed to the anti-sex propaganda taught in a general health class. Eventually it is approved. Kinsey begins teaching the sex course to a packed auditorium. Kinsey continues to answer students' questions in personal meetings, but finds his answers to be severely limited by the complete paucity of scientific data about human sexual intercourse. This leads Kinsey to pass out questionnaires in his sexual education class, from which he learns of the enormous disparity between what society had assumed people do and what their actual practices are. After securing support from the Rockefeller Foundation, Kinsey and his team travel the country interviewing subjects about their sexual histories.

As time progresses Dr. Kinsey begins realizing that sexuality within humans, including himself, is a lot more varied than was originally thought. The range of expression he creates later becomes known as the Kinsey scale, which ranks overall sexuality from straight to gay and everything in-between.

One of his assistants, Clyde Martin (played by actor Peter Sarsgaard) is bisexual and Dr. Kinsey, then later his wife, both have affairs with him. Dr. Kinsey's honesty in his relationships with people outside of his wife causes some strain in their marriage, but all parties involved are adults and the Kinseys remain committed to each other throughout their life.

The first sexological book Kinsey publishes, which is on the sexual habits of the male, is a large-scale success and a best seller. Kinsey's research turns to women, which is met with more controversy. With the release of the female volume, we see a decline in Kinsey's support. The McCarthy Era leads the Rockefeller Foundation to withdraw its financial support lest it be labeled "Communist" for eroding traditional American values. Kinsey feels that he has failed everyone who has ever been a victim of sexual ignorance. A customs office is tipped off to an importation of some of Kinsey's research material, which only exacerbates the financial situation of Kinsey's research organization. Alfred Kinsey himself suffers a heart attack, something foreshadowed in his mention of having a "weak heart" at the beginning of the movie, and is found to have developed an addiction to barbiturates. Meeting with other philanthropists fails to garner the support needed. Still, Kinsey continues his taking of sex histories. He interviews an older woman, who tells Kinsey that his research has saved her life and made her happy again.

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Movies - Kinsey

Plot

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