Necrophilia: Film’s Final Frontier? First time director Lynne Stopkewich boldly goes where no film has gone before. Yes, Kissed is about a woman’s attraction to dead bodies. Yet, this is more than a film with a provocative premise. There is a strange spirituality behind the protagonist’s peculiar sexuality.
"I’ve always been fascinated with death. The feel of it, the smell of it, the quietness of it," says narrator and heroine Sandra Larson (a radiant Molly Parker surrenders herself to this role). Sandra’s pursuit of meaning through necrophilia seems predestined, as her earliest experiences with death provoke a passionate intensity she cannot find anywhere in life. Is this a metaphor for humanity’s tapestry of sexual fetishes and desires? More likely, it is an exploration of our search for mystical understanding of death or a union with divinity. Sandra achieves blissful, transcendent moments when coupling with corpses (depicted with searing explosions of light.) "I’ve seen bodies shining like stars," she notes, "It’s like looking into the sun without going blind. I’m consumed."
Ironically, Sandra explores her passion for life through death, transcending the physical world while engaging in a corporeal act. Furthermore, Sandra seems to be comforting and guiding the dead as she performs ritualistic dances and treats the corpses with a tenderness they may not have been privy to in life. Fortunately, these scenes are handled sensitively. Stopkewich never degrades Sandra’s actions by stooping to titillation. The film’s low budget didn’t hurt the cinematography. Kissed is full of beautiful images that shine and shimmer off the screen.
What there is of conventionality in the film is found in its love triangle, as Sandra becomes involved with Matt, a medical student (Peter Oughterbridge gives a fine, confused and conflicted performance) who becomes aware of, then competitive with Sandra’s paramours. In this competition with Death, Matt forces Sandra to make some wrenching choices.
