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 et's
say you're the typical heterosexual woman, in your mid twenties,
and you've just had a string of dating disasters. Your kid brother
is getting married, to the acclaim of your entire family; your own
self-worth is on its way to the toilet, after a brief stop at the
shredder. Then you meet a bright, affectionate, sexually attractive
person who really digs you — and the only problem is, that
person is a woman.
This is the
"high concept" of the new movie Kissing Jessica Stein,
which is set — to beautiful effect — in New York City,
but tells what is essentially a universal story. It asks a question
too rarely broached in our society: Just how important is sexuality
anyway? Our culture wars seem to be preponderantly about sexual
issues — for and against gay rights, sexual content on TV,
promiscuous teens and illegitimacy, yada, yada, yada — but
rarely do we step back and question the obsession itself.
In this movie,
the likeable heroine (the Jessica of the title, played by Jennifer
Westfeldt) adopts a new sexual orientation out of love for her friend
Helen (Heather Juergensen). Ditzy but bright, and somewhat conservative
in her social attitudes, Jessica struggles, in this new relationship,
against her own sexual inclinations. Are these inclinations innate?
Are they a social construct? These are irrelevant questions, ones
that people can write steamy op-eds about until the end of time;
for Jessica, the important thing is that the inclinations exist
in her — and so her love for Helen, when she expresses it sexually,
involves a major emotional sacrifice.
Just how major?
Now there's an interesting question. Over the years, Jessica's heterosexuality
has become a central part of her identity, her self-image, her relations
with family and friends. To try and turn away from something so
ingrained into oneself and one's history is a daunting task; indeed,
the only thing that could reasonably induce someone to risk it is
— love.
What's truly
remarkable about this movie is that it doesn't have an easy answer
to the question of whether Jessica is on the right track in what's
she doing. Sexual liberalism offers a ready answer to the question,
"Is it OK to act on my sexual impulses?" (Sure, if your
action involves consenting adults, doesn't treat people purely as
objects, etc.) But it is brought up rather short by the question,
"Is it OK for me to act against my sexual impulses?"
To address that one, we need a much broader moral framework than
the one society offers us.
Kissing
Jessica Stein works very well as a movie because it's not about
a canned message; it's about realized, well-acted characters in
a well-written story. Westfeldt and Juergensen wrote the script
themselves, and deserve much credit for bringing this provocative,
entertaining film to the screen. About sex, we have enough —
indeed, too many — movies; this is an unusual one, about people
and about love.
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