Boxing Helena
original movie poster
Directed by	Jennifer Lynch
Produced by	Philippe Caland
Written by	Philippe Caland (story) Jennifer Lynch
Starring	Sherilyn Fenn Julian Sands Bill Paxton Kurtwood Smith Art Garfunkel
Music by	Graeme Revell
Cinematography	Bojan Bazelli Frank Byers
Editing by	David Finfer
Distributed by	Orion Pictures
Release date(s)	United Kingdom: June 18, 1993 United States: September 3, 1993
Running time	107 min
Country	United States
Language	English

Boxing Helena is the 1993 debut feature film by Jennifer Lynch, daughter of David Lynch. The film stars Julian Sands and Sherilyn Fenn as the eponymous Helena.

Contents 1 Plot 2 Cast 3 Critical reaction 4 Music 5 Miscellaneous 6 See also 7 References 8 External links

[edit] Plot

Nick Cavanaugh (Sands) is a lonely Atlanta surgeon obsessed with a girl named Helena (Fenn). After she is injured in a grievous hit-and-run motor vehicle accident in front of his home, he kidnaps and treats her in his house surreptitiously, amputating both of her legs. Later, he amputates her healthy arms as well.

Though Helena is the victim of Nick's kidnapping and mutilation, she dominates the dialogue with her constant emasculating ridicule of him for all of his shortcomings.

After some time living together she becomes lonely and returns his affection.

[edit] Cast

• Sherilyn Fenn as Helena
• Julian Sands as Dr. Nick Cavanaugh
• Bill Paxton as Ray O'Malley
• Kurtwood Smith as Dr. Alan Palmer
• Art Garfunkel as Dr. Lawrence Augustine
• Betsy Clark as Anne Garrett
• Nicolette Scorsese as Fantasy Lover/Nurse
• Meg Register as Marion Cavanaugh
• Bryan Smith as Russell
• Marla Levine as Patricia
• Kim Lentz as Nurse Diane
• Lloyd T. Williams as Sam the Clerk

[edit] Critical reaction

The film was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the 1993 Sundance Film Festival. However, the media critically mauled it on its release. Helena is also remembered for the legal battle that ensued when first Madonna^[1], then Kim Basinger backed out of the title role—eventually Basinger was the subject of an adverse jury verdict for over eight million dollars.^[2][3] This caused Basinger to enter bankruptcy, although the verdict was set aside on appeal in 1994.^[4] The film also won for "Worst Director" for Lynch from the Golden Raspberry Awards. Although the film was a huge box office bomb when it was originally released, the film has since earned a cult following among fans.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Music

Especially known is the music during the scene where Helena showers in a fountain, while a party crowd watches. The scene was originally scored by the film's composer, Graeme Revell, based on the "Love Theme" used sparsely elsewhere in the movie, with vocals by Bobbi Page. At the producers' request, "The Fountain Song" replaced Revell's score in the original movie-release and the DVD. It was written and performed by Wendy Levy.

[edit] Miscellaneous

• Fenn had previously worked with Lynch's father, David Lynch, in a small role in Wild at Heart (1990) and cult-status TV series Twin Peaks (1990-91) as femme fatale Audrey Horne.
• Much of the film was filmed in the Atlanta mansion of famed defense attorney Ed Garland.
• The Misfits song "Helena" chronicles this story, and opens with the lyric "If I cut off your arms and cut off your legs, would you still love me anyway?" continuing in the same vein.^[5]

[edit] See also

• List of American films of 1993
• Amputee fetishism
• Blind Beast

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Boxing Helena at Allmovie
• Boxing Helena at the Internet Movie Database
• Boxing Helena, A Film Review by James Berardinelli
• Scene with Deleted music-score piece