Before Anne Heche came to prominence as the lover (and then ex-lover) of Ellen DeGeneres, she carved out a career as a sharp, intelligent actress, someone who could save a movie by appearing on the fringes, as in The Juror, for instance. Mixed in with supporting roles were a few indie leads--Wild Side is one of the latter, despite Heche's third billing. And a very strange item it is. Heche plays a banking go-getter who moonlights as a high-class call girl, with the movie hinting that the two professions may not be all that dissimilar. A liaison with a crooked financier (Christopher Walken in extremis) and later with his wife (Joan Chen) puts our heroine in a very confusing situation, especially when she gets in the way of a chauffeur/undercover cop/predator, played by Steven Bauer in high Eric Roberts mode. If the story is not always coherent, the actors nevertheless shoot off sparks, and the movie pulses with a weird energy all its own.
Wild Side was the last picture directed by Donald Cammell, whose 1970 film Performance (co-directed by Nicolas Roeg) is one of the defining films of its era. This cut of Wild Side is credited to the pseudonymous "Franklin Brauner" because Cammell was unhappy with the radical re-edit performed without his consent. A director's cut had been prepared, but Cammell did not live to see it. He committed suicide in 1996, leaving behind a very small output of films in his foreshortened career. Wild Side, even in its cut form, carries his signature traits of authentic disorientation and intense, twisted sex. And while it's a guaranteed perk for prurient viewers, the torrid coupling of Heche and Chen is just one equation in the film's convoluted sexual arithmetic. --Robert Horton
Spotlight customer reviews:
Customer Rating: Summary: So Bad It's Almost Good Comment: Who cares about the boring lesbo stuff...the skinny, rat-faced Heche is nothing to look at, the other one is, but so what? The reason to watch this flick, of course, is Walken...who parades around in Hawaiian shirts, silk dressing gowns with black socks, Coke bottle glasses, a fright mask wig, and Cuban cigar - sometimes all at once. The plot is presposterous, the best scene - and truly a great laugh - is in the hotel room: gun-wielding, condomed Walken in aforementioned get-up, bending undercover cop chauffeur over sofa, screaming prostitute Heche, walked in on by Chen who looks at Walken and says "whore" His line: "It's not what it looks like.....I can't believe I'm paying for this" Customer Rating: Summary: A review from the author of YEARS OF RAGE Comment: An enigmatic, unjustly forgotten masterpiece.
Donald Cammell's beautiful and poetic WILD SIDE concludes the path that he began with Nicolas Roeg in 1969. I am referring, of course, to their directorial debut, the magisterial PERFORMANCE. As in PERFORMANCE, the principal characters mirror one another at crucial points---the rogue undercover cop (Steve Bauer), the vampirelike money launderer (Christopher Walken), his bewitching wife (Joan Chen), the banker/prostitute (Anne Heche) all perform a round-dance in which each partner takes on the other's identity, is attracted to the other because s/he sees in him/her a reflection of his/her own self. The fascination with homoeroticism, as in PERFORMANCE, could be taken on its own terms; more profoundly, it touches upon the film's Cammell's tireless obsession with finding similitude in difference.
Homosexuality is the love of the same. Homosexuality is a metaphor in the film for difference-in-similarity, similarity-in-difference.
As in PERFORMANCE, the dialogue in this film is highly lyrical and stylized.
Every scene in this film is essential. Shame on the MPAA for forcing Cammell to censor his film (the film is now attributed to his psuedonym, "Frederick Brauner"). To all those who read these words: Search for the absolutely uncensored version of this film---which, as far as I know, has never been released anywhere. Even the so-called "director's cut" is a truncated version.
Without a knowledge of PERFORMANCE, the significance of THE WILD SIDE will be lost on the viewer.
Someday, Donald Cammell will be celebrated as one of the greatest directors in film history. His films are PERFORMANCE, DEMON SEED, THE WHITE OF THE EYE, and THE WILD SIDE.
Joseph Suglia, the author of YEARS OF RAGE, the novel inspired by the Columbine High Massacre Customer Rating: Summary: More mild, than wild, but Anne Heche did look fairly good. Comment: This strange mix of money, lesbian sex, and a plot that (at times) was a little hard to follow, did feature a fairly decent looking Anne Heche (Ellen Degeneres' former girlfriend, and I could see why) and Joan Chen, who have a few fairly steamy scenes together (too bad Ms. Chen didn't show more). The always strange Christopher Walken and Steven Bauer flesh out (pardon the usage) story, such as it is. I give it four stars for Heche, who can't really act, but did look good; I might have given it five, if Chen had shown more, other than that, ok, but not great. [Supposed to be the unrated edition, but I'm not so sure]. Customer Rating: Summary: Wild Side Comment: The only edition available on DVD is apparently the R-rated one which does not contain the hot scene with Heche and Chen. Customer Rating: Summary: Call me . . . ???? Comment: The provocative Anne Heche made a reputation in Hollywood due to her affairs with high profile comedians on her climb to the top. Few know that Heche was briefly Steve Martin's girlfiend before she was Ellen's, and despite her evident ability and attractiveness, a certain pall fell over her persona, as a real life heartbreaker (even before Ellen). She has hence been cast generally as a heavy, if not fem-lesbian, and even a twisted type. All of which makes her heady performance in Wild Side the more exciting. As the reviews tell you, the film is uneven. Yet, it has moments of brilliance from all the players. Walken is wickedly funny in his absurd role, Bauer is often convincing, and Chen is her usual, magnificent self. But Heche carries the film. The brief post-rape phone call scene on the kitchen counter is a high art, convincing and sensitive, and she has rarely looked better than in the brocade (did I get the spelling?) kimono she wears in the following scenes. But, it is the romance with Chen that is worth the price of the disc (although any cuts other than the director's should be universally outlawed on DVD, at least). Let's face it, these women are gorgeous, and even better together, au natural. As close as mainstream Hollywood has gotten (or may ever get) to XXX sex. But, the power of the justly celebrated scene arises from Heche's elegant portrayal of her character's seduction. The film will probably endure, despite its many flaws, as the most revealing testimony to her notable, if not major, talent. Sexy and worth watching.
