KAMA SUTRA
A film review by James Berardinelli
Copyright 1997 James Berardinelli
RATING (0 TO 10): 5.5 Alternative Scale: ** out of ****
India, 1997 U.S. Release Date: beginning 2/28/97 (limited) Running Length: 1:57 MPAA Classification: No MPAA Rating (Sex, nudity, frank sexual language) Theatrical Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1
Cast: Indira Varma, Sarita Choudhury, Ramon Tikaram, Naveen Andrews,
Rekha
Director: Mira Nair
Producers: Mira Nair, Lydia Dean Pilcher
Screenplay: Helena Kriel and Mira Nair
Cinematography: Declan Quinn
Music: Mychael Danna
U.S. Distributor: Trimark Pictures
A controversial film does not necessarily equate to a good film. This is true whether the movie is a big budget Hollywood release (SHOWGIRLS) or an art house special (CRASH). And, while director Mira Nair's latest, KAMA SUTRA, isn't receiving the same kind of press accorded to David Cronenberg's sex-and-accident-fest, it has still generated a great deal of censorship and certification wrangling. In the United States, Trimark Pictures, convinced that the film would be branded NC-17, chose to release KAMA SUTRA unrated. In India, Nair had to fight long and hard to avoid cutting 11 minutes of celluloid (the eventual cuts numbered 2 1/2 minutes).
THE KAMA SUTRA OF VATSAYANA, written sometime during the fourth century, is known primarily as a catalogue of sex positions. In fact, that's only one aspect of the volume, which teaches lessons about the spiritual and material differences between sex with and without love. And, like the book from which it takes its name, Nair's picture is only tangentially about positions. Instead, it's about sexual geometry (as in triangles) and power moves, and the importance of sex in both love and war. However, while Nair (SALAAM BOMBAY!, MISSISSIPPI MASALA) is attempting to strike a potentially-rich vein of thematic material, she unwisely chooses an overwrought, period melodrama as the means by which to explore it.
KAMA SUTRA looks great -- it's sumptuously crafted with vibrantly colorful costumes and impeccable production values -- but there's a distressing lack of substance beneath the style. The movie has the basic narrative structure of a soap opera or a sudsy romance novel. The sex scenes, which are numerous (although perhaps not numerous enough to satisfy those who are hoping for a soft-core art house experience), are actually KAMA SUTRA's most notable feature, not because of their controversial nature but because they display an almost-spiritual eroticism that few directors attempt to capture on film.
The story, which takes place in 16th century India, centers on Maya (Indira Varma), a servant girl working for a princess, Tara (Sarita Choudhury). Throughout her entire life, Maya has been forced to subsist on hand-me-downs from Tara, but now, on the eve of the princess' wedding, she sees a chance for revenge. Tara is to be married to the King, Raj Singh (Naveen Andrews), a lustful monarch who enjoys the pleasures of the flesh. And Raj is deeply attracted to Maya -- so she gives herself to him, then cattily tells Tara: "All my life, I have lived with your used things; now, something I have used is yours forever." When word gets out of Maya's tryst with Raj, she is branded as a whore and run out of the palace. She seeks refuge with a former courtesan (Rekha), who teaches her the lessons of the KAMA SUTRA. At the same time, she falls in love with a sculptor (Ramon Tikaram). But her path is destined to cross Tara's again when the King wants Maya to enter his harem.
The basic material comprising KAMA SUTRA isn't fundamentally bad -- it's a little silly and formulaic, but at least events keep the story moving. The real problem is that the tale is told from Maya's point-of- view, and the actress in the lead role, newcomer Indira Varma, can't act. She's sensual and sexy, looks great both in and out of her costumes, and steams up the screen during the love scenes, but her dramatic range is nonexistent. Her performance is so weak that we never accept Maya as a character, and, without Maya, KAMA SUTRA comes across as little more than an artsy Harlequin paperback.
The most interesting character is Tara, who is developed by actress Sarita Choudhury (MISSISSIPPI MASALA) into an intriguing woman suffering conflicted emotions about both Maya and her husband. She's confused, humiliated, and frightened by her own sexuality, until Maya skillfully instructs her how to use her body as a weapon. Unfortunately, after playing a prominent role in several early scenes, Tara disappears for the better part of an hour. Meanwhile, in another key supporting part, Naveen Andrews (THE ENGLISH PATIENT) is merely adequate as the debauched king.
There's no debating that Nair skims some interesting aspects of the politics of sex, but none of these themes seem more than half-realized. KAMA SUTRA is a brave experiment, but "brave", like "controversial," doesn't mean "successful." The film's interesting issues get trapped in the melodrama like insects in amber, and, no matter how hard they struggle to escape, they're ultimately smothered by KAMA SUTRA's clunky plot.
- James Berardinelli e-mail: berardin@bc.cybernex.net ReelViews web site: http://www.cybernex.net/~berardin
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