Henry and June (1990)

a great film about writing in the early part of the 20th Century

Director: Philip Kaufman

 

Two years after the astounding film version of the Milan Kundera novel, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Kaufman directed another equally provocative film, Henry and June, based on the book of the same name by Anais Nin. Nin was responsible for the publication of Henry Miller’s novel Tropic of Cancer.

 

The movie concerns the relationship of Miller (Fred Ward), his wife June (Uma Thurman) and Nin (Maria de Madeiros).  Kevin Spacey as Richard Osborn and Richard E. Grant as Nin’s husband Hugh also star. The atmosphere of Paris in 1931 is strongly evoked. Nin is drawn to the bohemian lifestyle of the Millers.  Henry is a serious writer. His wife is a broad (yes, in that sense!) from New York, who will do anything in her power to promote her husband. Hugh, Nin’s husband, remains rather in the background. Since he didn’t want Nin to write about him, he is absent from her diaries.

 

One of the most amazing features of this work is the strong resemblance between Thurman and the real June Miller and de Madeiros and the real Nin.

Nin is a poet and diarist.  Miller is a very uninhibited writer. June seems rather odd, and in real life she was later a resident in a psychiatric ward. Eventually, she would undergo electroconvulsive therapy.

 

It is shot in beautiful areas of France and Paris. The music consists of popular music of the time as well as music of French composers including Debussy, Ravel, Satie, Auric, Renoir and others.

 

 

One of the interesting stylistic traits of the film is Kaufman’s use of color in terms of the walls in Nin’s home. The places where the Millers reside are seemingly bland. Another is the use of fades to move from scene to scene.

 

It was the first film to be rated NC-17.  The look of the film and the main characters are wonderful people that anyone who aspires to write will enjoy.