Rating: 
Summary: unforgettable
Review: i first saw this film when i was sixteen on video as i couldn't see this in the theatres due to the nc-17 rating ofcourse. i have to say that this film looks every bit as good today as it did back then. the film is far from being labled as soft porn as it has many wonderful performances by some of the greatest actors/actresses to ever grace the screen & the sex scenes which are shown here are all tastefully done. i'd read some of henry miller's work before watching this film & i have to admit that fred ward makes a splendid, believable henry miller come to life. great nods should also go out to maria de medeiros who gives much spirit to the passionate & much loved anais nin as well as uma thurman who gave the performance of a lifetime as miller's beautiful wife june. i visit this film from time to time & i always see something new each time i watch it. if you desire a film which has intelligent dialogue, fabulous acting, & a timeless theme then henry & june is the film for you. if you enjoyed jurassic park 3, you probably won't find this film very fascinating.
Rating:
Summary: Life as art
Review: I love this film, but don't watch it if you are not prepared to question the status quo, what is true morality, if not the morality that is dictated to us by society? Is it possible to define one's own morality on one's own terms? Particularly if you happen to be a woman, are you prepared to think for yourself and define your life as art, by the terms dictated by your inner landscape and stand up proud, even though people will snipe and call you...at best... immoral and wanton, a femme fatal instead of a woman who thinks and truly lives. Anais Nin did so, and I find it facinating that the reviews for this movie are so much like the reviews of Nin's own books, specifically her diaries, some get it, some are terribly threatened by her and harrangue her with attacks on her character to reassure themselves that the staus quo is to be put up as unquestionable, and that women should be "good" and shut thier mouths and accept what they are told to be. Kaufman has created an erotic masterpiece, portraing the soul of the characters hauntingly (Maria De Medieros incarnares the deceased Nin beautifully) if not a slave to the letter of the order of events, his artistic liberties evoke a certain truth that underlies the diaries. His depiction of paris in the 1930's the artists, the prostitutes is beautiful and rich. This book opens doors and asks subtle layers of questions that must be adressed by thinking people who choose to live rather than accept placidly. You cannot watch this film once and have seen all of it, understood the subtelties or expierienced the lush and shocking truths revealed. Nin and Miller, or at least Nin, would have been pleased I think.
Rating:
Summary: I liked it and iwould like to see it again.
Review: I would like to see it again. I liked it. will you show it right now? Please put it on a movie. I give it 5 stars. I would like a movie of our school. You should make a movie.
Rating: 
Summary: Timeless Parisian Love Story.
Review: I'm a huge Anais Nin and Henry Miller fan, I adore their writings. This film--"Henry and June" brings to life their complex and passionate relationship. "Henry and June" is extremely beautiful to watch due in part of the actors: Fred Ward (henry miller) and Maria de Medeiros (anais nin). The viewer is transported to 1930's Paris with all its glory. The costumes, makeup, cinamatography and story are breath taking, as are the passionate,lovely scenes with Maria de Medeiros and Fred Ward. This is a keeper...Enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: Timeless Parisian Love Story.
Review: I'm a huge Anais Nin and Henry Miller fan, I adore their writings. This film--"Henry and June" brings to life their complex and passionate relationship. "Henry and June" is extremely beautiful to watch due in part of the actors: Fred Ward (henry miller) and Maria de Medeiros (anais nin). The viewer is transported to 1930's Paris with all its glory. The costumes, makeup, cinamatography and story are breath taking, as are the passionate,lovely scenes with Maria de Medeiros and Fred Ward. This is a keeper...Enjoy!
Rating: 
Summary: Erotica VS Romance
Review: Most veiwers who seek out Philip Kuafman's Henry & June will be curious about the sexual content of the film which made the MPAA invent the NC-17 rating, they will be disappointed. The sex in Henry & June is not groundbreakingly explicit, but there sure is a lot of it. For those viewers I would reccomend Jean-Jacques Beineix's spectacularly bad (and Oscar nominated) 1986 film Betty Blue. Henry & June tells the story of American writer Henry Miller(Fred Ward) and his wife June(Uma Thurman) as seen through the eyes of Anais Nin(Maria de Medeiros), and here is the film's biggest problem, it is told from the wrong prespective. Anais is a spoilt emotianlly immature woman who seeks sexual exprementation for no reason other then lust in the guise of artful reasoning like "I need to know people who are alive." The film would have much more involving had it been told from Henry's point of view. As played by Fred Ward he is brutish, easy going, funny and exhilerated by the sexual liberty in 1930s Paris. He is a man who cries when watching his actress wife in an erotic film. Unlike Anais he actually has feelings that the audience can identify with. Perhaps this was unavoidable as the film is adapted from Anais Nin's diaries. The most interesting character in the film is Henry's bisexual wife June. Played by Uma Thurman with a deep throaty voice, we see her at first as an opportunistic woman who uses sex to advance her interests, but as the film progrsses we learn that a real pain and self loathing is hidden under her sleak exterior. She is alaways emotionally blackmailing Henry and Anais, to make her a more noble figure in their books. This is one of Uma Thurman's best performances, she delivers her lines with a throaty sexuality, "I've made mistakes, but I've made them superbly" she says. Due to the overtly erotic nature of the film, it becomes emotionally aloof. Romance and erotica are polar opposittes. In a love scene, the less you know about the people involved the more erotic it is, but less romantic. Most of the naked women in Henry & June are extras, and the lead character Anais is a mystery anyway. The result is visually gripping but emtionally uninvolving. Philip Kaufman's 1988 masterpiece The Unbearable Lightness of Being was also erotic, but that film was much more effective because he made you care about the characters before they got naked. The best thing about Henry & June is the details. You could watch this film with absolutely no dialogue and not lose anything. The recreation of 1930s Paris is a feast for the eyes, and Philippe Rouselot's cinamatagrphy is beautiful. I loved how the film re-created parts of that era, the underground lesbian clubs, the semi-nude parades in the streets, the old cinemas where the characters watch Luis Bunuel's then scandlous UN CHEIN ANDALOU and a particularly amusing group of magicians who pick pockets as a side job. Early on in the film Henry Miller criticises D.H. Lawrence "He makes too much out of sex, he makes a damn gospel out of it, my way sex is natural like birth or death". I don't know if this criticism is apt for Lawrence but it certainly would be for the director of this film Philip Kaufman.
Rating:
Summary: Erotica VS Romance
Review: Most veiwers who seek out Philip Kuafman's Henry & June will be curious about the sexual content of the film which made the MPAA invent the NC-17 rating, they will be disappointed. The sex in Henry & June is not groundbreakingly explicit, but there sure is a lot of it. For those viewers I would reccomend Jean-Jacques Beineix's spectacularly bad (and Oscar nominated) 1986 film Betty Blue. Henry & June tells the story of American writer Henry Miller(Fred Ward) and his wife June(Uma Thurman) as seen through the eyes of Anais Nin(Maria de Medeiros), and here is the film's biggest problem, it is told from the wrong prespective. Anais is a spoilt emotianlly immature woman who seeks sexual exprementation for no reason other then lust in the guise of artful reasoning like "I need to know people who are alive." The film would have much more involving had it been told from Henry's point of view. As played by Fred Ward he is brutish, easy going, funny and exhilerated by the sexual liberty in 1930s Paris. He is a man who cries when watching his actress wife in an erotic film. Unlike Anais he actually has feelings that the audience can identify with. Perhaps this was unavoidable as the film is adapted from Anais Nin's diaries. The most interesting character in the film is Henry's bisexual wife June. Played by Uma Thurman with a deep throaty voice, we see her at first as an opportunistic woman who uses sex to advance her interests, but as the film progrsses we learn that a real pain and self loathing is hidden under her sleak exterior. She is alaways emotionally blackmailing Henry and Anais, to make her a more noble figure in their books. This is one of Uma Thurman's best performances, she delivers her lines with a throaty sexuality, "I've made mistakes, but I've made them superbly" she says. Due to the overtly erotic nature of the film, it becomes emotionally aloof. Romance and erotica are polar opposittes. In a love scene, the less you know about the people involved the more erotic it is, but less romantic. Most of the naked women in Henry & June are extras, and the lead character Anais is a mystery anyway. The result is visually gripping but emtionally uninvolving. Philip Kaufman's 1988 masterpiece The Unbearable Lightness of Being was also erotic, but that film was much more effective because he made you care about the characters before they got naked. The best thing about Henry & June is the details. You could watch this film with absolutely no dialogue and not lose anything. The recreation of 1930s Paris is a feast for the eyes, and Philippe Rouselot's cinamatagrphy is beautiful. I loved how the film re-created parts of that era, the underground lesbian clubs, the semi-nude parades in the streets, the old cinemas where the characters watch Luis Bunuel's then scandlous UN CHEIN ANDALOU and a particularly amusing group of magicians who pick pockets as a side job. Early on in the film Henry Miller criticises D.H. Lawrence "He makes too much out of sex, he makes a damn gospel out of it, my way sex is natural like birth or death". I don't know if this criticism is apt for Lawrence but it certainly would be for the director of this film Philip Kaufman.
Rating:
Summary: Literate Passion
Review: One of the most underrated movies of the 90s. (It also marks a disappointing moment when the studio _could_ have backed up an NC-17 film not porn but meant for _real_ adults....but caved to puritanism instead). The top two reasons to see it are the performances of Maria de Medeiros as Anais Nin (it's almost a reincarnation) and Uma Thurman as June, two of the sexiest, most intelligent, passionate portrayals of women in recent cinema. Forget Thelma and Louise -- these two are a combustible pair. Fred Ward's performance as Henry Miller, too low-key, is pretty much lost in the shuffle, without any of the dynamic magnetism Miller had in spades. The movie explores the nature of desire, infatuation, obsession, and real love, and is pretty faithful to the actual events -- but some elements (such as the significance of June's puppet Count Bruga, made for her by her lesbian lover, Jean) are lost in the translation to the screen. For people bored to tears by the dichotomy of soulless porn on the one hand and Hollywood mush on the other, this is an intelligent and _sexy_ movie. Two lovely companion books are Anais Nin's diary "Henry and June," on which the movie was based, and Nin's and Miller's unexpurgated letters, "A Literate Passion." That title sums up both their lives and the movie based on them.
Rating:
Summary: Hot! Hot! Hot!!!
Review: Perfect! Having read all of Anais Nin's diaries, I was prepared to be mildly disappointed in this movie, as I usually am with most books-made-into-movies. But it was simply wonderful. The actor and actress literally became Anais Nin and Henry Miller. It brought their love affair alive in a very erotic, tactile way. I could almost feel the heat coming from the tv screen!! You *MUST* watch this movie with a lover to be sure, so you can melt into each other's arms after the sizzling love scenes.
Rating:
Summary: Hot! Hot! Hot!!!
Review: Perfect! Having read all of Anais Nin's diaries, I was prepared to be mildly disappointed in this movie, as I usually am with most books-made-into-movies. But it was simply wonderful. The actor and actress literally became Anais Nin and Henry Miller. It brought their love affair alive in a very erotic, tactile way. I could almost feel the heat coming from the tv screen!! You *MUST* watch this movie with a lover to be sure, so you can melt into each other's arms after the sizzling love scenes.
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