While attending Wellesley College in the early `70s, filmmaker Lizzie Borden had an encounter with a con artist who passed himself off as a fashion- magazine photographer.
”I got out of that situation before I got into trouble,” Borden now says, ”but when I read the script for `Love Crimes,` it immediately connected with my experience.”
”Love Crimes,” about a woman prosecutor who becomes involved with a sexual con artist, is Borden`s most mainstream film to date. It stars Sean Young and Patrick Bergin.
Borden is a self-described ”feminist filmmaker” whose last effort was
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”Working Girls,” a semi-documentary look at middle-class prostitutes designed to dispel any fantasies men might have about the world`s oldest profession.
”My films are about women`s power in relation to men`s power,” Borden said. ”Sexuality is the arena by which that power is gained or lost.”
”Love Crimes” at first glance might seem like a conventional thriller, but Borden hopes it`s much more than that.
”It`s a little scary to me that the film is being marketed as a straight thriller,” she said. ”I`m afraid people will expect it to be exploitative because it`s got recognizable actors. I see it as a woman`s movie. It`s not
`Jagged Edge.` It may have elements of a psychological thriller, but I hope people will walk away discussing the issues it raises.
”Of course, `Working Girls` was advertised as a come-hither movie. After all, the distributor`s idea is to get people into the theater.”
At the heart of ”Love Crimes” is a perplexing question: When does seduction become exploitation?
David Hanover (Bergin) is a charmer who poses as a famous photographer to seduce and take erotic photos of women. Several of them press charges but remain ambivalent about their experiences. They feel humiliated and robbed, but are unclear about whether they were sexually assaulted or willing participants. Some even want to see David again.
To find out the truth, assistant prosecutor Dana Greenway (Young) goes undercover to become David`s next victim.
”This movie asks, `What is the limit of consent?` ” Borden said. ”It`s something our whole culture is starting to look at, thanks to the William Kennedy Smith trial and the Clarence Thomas/Anita Hill affair.
”You can understand why women are slow to press charges in a case like this. It exposes their vanity. They were drawn into a situation with a man who they thought could make them famous, or maybe just make them feel beautiful. Now they feel humiliated.
”But what if he really did get their picture in Vogue? Would they still prosecute him? I mean, it`s nice to be seduced, but being conned-that`s something else. We`ve got some very troubling issues of consent here.”
The prosecutor played by Young becomes so intensely involved with the con man that she jeopardizes her case against him.
”If a woman goes after a sex criminal who is operating in this gray area, her integrity has to be unassailable,” Borden said. ”If there`s anything about her that is not heroic, if she`s flawed in any way, she`ll be the one who ends up on trial. Her credibility will be questioned.”
Borden said she cast Young as Dana precisely because the actress is perceived as ”always going over the edge.”
”I was drawn to Sean because of her notoriety and because of the parallels between the character and her own life. She felt this role was a way to work out her anger after the James Woods thing.”
A couple of years back, the gossip columns were filled with items about Young`s relationship with actor James Woods. The two had an affair while making the movie ”The Boost.” Later Woods claimed Young stalked him and his wife and sent threatening messages.
”I found after working with her that she`s an outspoken, intelligent person who doesn`t play by the rules,” Borden said.