9½ Weeks
Encyclopedia
9½ Weeks is a 1986 erotic
drama film
directed by Adrian Lyne
and starring Mickey Rourke
and Kim Basinger
. It is based on the novel of the same name by Elizabeth McNeill.
The film was not a major success commercially in the United States, grossing only $7 million at the box office from a $17 million budget. In addition, it received mixed reviews. However, despite its only moderate success in North America, the film acquired a large fanbase on video and was a huge success internationally. The film is now well known for its erotic sadomasochistic
content.
The film spawned two direct-to-video
sequel
s, Another 9½ Weeks (1997) and The First 9½ Weeks
(1998).
arbitrage
ur John Gray (Mickey Rourke
) and divorced SoHo
art gallery employee Elizabeth McGraw (Kim Basinger
). The two meet and have a volatile and somewhat kinky sex life.
They try a variety of sexual and erotic acts, such as a scene in which John titillates a blindfolded Elizabeth's body with ice; a scene in which John spoonfeeds Elizabeth various kinds of food while her eyes are closed; a scene in which Elizabeth takes off a tuxedo
and fake moustache
and has sex with John in a rainy alley; and Basinger's striptease to Randy Newman
's "You Can Leave Your Hat On
", as performed by Joe Cocker
. Most of these erotic scenes were parodied or served as the inspiration for some music video
s, like Sheena Easton
's 1989 song "Days Like This" and Sarah Connor's 2007 "Sexual Healing
".
The film details a sexual downward spiral as John pushes Elizabeth's boundaries toward her eventual emotional breakdown. He often manipulates her into getting what he wants during sex and sometimes abuses her.
. Roger Ebert gave the film three and half stars, stating: "A lot of the success of "9½ Weeks" is because Rourke and Basinger make the characters and their relationship convincing". He further elaborated by saying that their relationship was believable, and unlike many other characters in other erotic films at that time, the characters in this movie are much more real and human.
The film was nominated for three categories in the 1986 Golden Raspberry Awards, Worst Actress
(Kim Basinger
), Worst Original Song
(Jonathan Elias
, John Taylor, Michael Des Barres
), and Worst Screenplay
(Patricia Louisianna Knop, Zalman King
, Sarah Kernochan
).
released from the 9½ Weeks: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack was "I Do What I Do
," performed by Duran Duran
bassist John Taylor, giving his first solo singing performance during a hiatus in Duran Duran's career. The song reached #23 on the Billboard Hot 100
and #42 on the UK Singles Chart
. Music for the score was composed by Taylor and Jonathan Elias
. Original music for the movie was also written by Jack Nitzsche
, but his compositions are not included on the soundtrack.
The soundtrack also included tracks from Luba
, Bryan Ferry
, Dalbello
, Corey Hart, Joe Cocker
, Devo
, Eurythmics
and Stewart Copeland
. Winston Grennan
's reggae "Savior" as well as Jean Michel Jarre
's "Arpegiator," played during the sex scene on the stairs in the rain, were not included on the record.
appeared direct-to-video
called Another 9½ Weeks, starring Mickey Rourke and Angie Everhart
and directed by Anne Goursaud. In 1998, a straight-to-video prequel
was made called The First 9½ Weeks, but it did not include any of the original actors.
9½ Weeks is a 1986 erotic
Eroticism
Eroticism is generally understood to refer to a state of sexual arousal or anticipation of such – an insistent sexual impulse, desire, or pattern of thoughts, as well as a philosophical contemplation concerning the aesthetics of sexual desire, sensuality and romantic love...
drama film
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
directed by Adrian Lyne
Adrian Lyne
Adrian Lyne is an English filmmaker and producer. He is best known for directing films that focus on sexually charged characters and often uses natural light, a fog machine and other effects to create eroticized atmospheres...
and starring Mickey Rourke
Mickey Rourke
Philip Andre "Mickey" Rourke, Jr. is an American actor, screenwriter and retired boxer, who has appeared primarily as a leading man in action, drama, and thriller films....
and Kim Basinger
Kim Basinger
Kimila Ann "Kim" Basinger is an American actress and former fashion model.She is known for her portrayals of Domino Petachi, the Bond girl in Never Say Never Again , and Vicki Vale, the female lead in Batman . Basinger received a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture...
. It is based on the novel of the same name by Elizabeth McNeill.
The film was not a major success commercially in the United States, grossing only $7 million at the box office from a $17 million budget. In addition, it received mixed reviews. However, despite its only moderate success in North America, the film acquired a large fanbase on video and was a huge success internationally. The film is now well known for its erotic sadomasochistic
BDSM
BDSM is an erotic preference and a form of sexual expression involving the consensual use of restraint, intense sensory stimulation, and fantasy power role-play. The compound acronym BDSM is derived from the terms bondage and discipline , dominance and submission , and sadism and masochism...
content.
The film spawned two direct-to-video
Direct-to-video
Direct-to-video is a term used to describe a film that has been released to the public on home video formats without being released in film theaters or broadcast on television...
sequel
Sequel
A sequel is a narrative, documental, or other work of literature, film, theatre, or music that continues the story of or expands upon issues presented in some previous work...
s, Another 9½ Weeks (1997) and The First 9½ Weeks
The First 9½ Weeks
The First 9½ Weeks is a 1998 drama film written and directed by Alex Wright and starring Paul Mercurio, Clara Bellar and Malcolm McDowell. It is a prequel to the films 9½ Weeks and Another 9½ Weeks.-Plot:...
(1998).
Plot
The title of the film refers to the duration of a relationship between Wall StreetWall Street
Wall Street refers to the financial district of New York City, named after and centered on the eight-block-long street running from Broadway to South Street on the East River in Lower Manhattan. Over time, the term has become a metonym for the financial markets of the United States as a whole, or...
arbitrage
Arbitrage
In economics and finance, arbitrage is the practice of taking advantage of a price difference between two or more markets: striking a combination of matching deals that capitalize upon the imbalance, the profit being the difference between the market prices...
ur John Gray (Mickey Rourke
Mickey Rourke
Philip Andre "Mickey" Rourke, Jr. is an American actor, screenwriter and retired boxer, who has appeared primarily as a leading man in action, drama, and thriller films....
) and divorced SoHo
SoHo
SoHo is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, New York City, notable for being the location of many artists' lofts and art galleries, and also, more recently, for the wide variety of stores and shops ranging from trendy boutiques to outlets of upscale national and international chain stores...
art gallery employee Elizabeth McGraw (Kim Basinger
Kim Basinger
Kimila Ann "Kim" Basinger is an American actress and former fashion model.She is known for her portrayals of Domino Petachi, the Bond girl in Never Say Never Again , and Vicki Vale, the female lead in Batman . Basinger received a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture...
). The two meet and have a volatile and somewhat kinky sex life.
They try a variety of sexual and erotic acts, such as a scene in which John titillates a blindfolded Elizabeth's body with ice; a scene in which John spoonfeeds Elizabeth various kinds of food while her eyes are closed; a scene in which Elizabeth takes off a tuxedo
Black tie
Black tie is a dress code for evening events and social functions. For a man, the main component is a usually black jacket, known as a dinner jacket or tuxedo...
and fake moustache
Moustache
A moustache is facial hair grown on the outer surface of the upper lip. It may or may not be accompanied by a type of beard, a facial hair style grown and cropped to cover most of the lower half of the face.-Etymology:...
and has sex with John in a rainy alley; and Basinger's striptease to Randy Newman
Randy Newman
Randall Stuart "Randy" Newman is an American singer-songwriter, arranger, composer, and pianist who is known for his mordant pop songs and for film scores....
's "You Can Leave Your Hat On
You Can Leave Your Hat On
"You Can Leave Your Hat On" is a song written by Randy Newman and appearing on his 1972 album Sail Away. It was made famous by Joe Cocker when featured in the 1986 Adrian Lyne film 9½ Weeks during the striptease scene....
", as performed by Joe Cocker
Joe Cocker
John Robert "Joe" Cocker, OBE is an English rock and blues musician, composer and actor, who came to popularity in the 1960s, and is most known for his gritty voice, his idiosyncratic arm movements while performing, and his cover versions of popular songs, particularly those of The Beatles...
. Most of these erotic scenes were parodied or served as the inspiration for some music video
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
s, like Sheena Easton
Sheena Easton
Sheena Easton is a Scottish recording artist. Easton became famous for being the focus of an episode in the British television programme The Big Time, which recorded her attempts to gain a record contract and her eventual signing with EMI Records.Easton rose to fame in the early 1980s with the pop...
's 1989 song "Days Like This" and Sarah Connor's 2007 "Sexual Healing
Sexual Healing
"Sexual Healing" is a 1982 song recorded by American soul singer Marvin Gaye on the Columbia Records label. It was his first single since his exit from his long-term record label Motown earlier in the year, following the release of the In Our Lifetime album the previous year...
".
The film details a sexual downward spiral as John pushes Elizabeth's boundaries toward her eventual emotional breakdown. He often manipulates her into getting what he wants during sex and sometimes abuses her.
Cast
- Mickey RourkeMickey RourkePhilip Andre "Mickey" Rourke, Jr. is an American actor, screenwriter and retired boxer, who has appeared primarily as a leading man in action, drama, and thriller films....
as John Grey - Kim BasingerKim BasingerKimila Ann "Kim" Basinger is an American actress and former fashion model.She is known for her portrayals of Domino Petachi, the Bond girl in Never Say Never Again , and Vicki Vale, the female lead in Batman . Basinger received a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture...
as Elizabeth McGraw - Margaret WhittonMargaret WhittonMargaret Whitton is an American stage, film, and television actress, originally from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Whitton did her primary film work between 1986 and 1993. Her most visible roles were that of baseball team owner Rachel Phelps in Major League and its sequel Major League II, and as...
as Molly - David MarguliesDavid MarguliesDavid Joseph Margulies is an American actor.Margulies was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Runya , a nurse and museum worker, and Harry David Margulies, a lawyer. Margulies graduated from City College of New York. Immediately afterward, he made his stage debut in the off-Broadway play Golden 6...
as Harvey - Christine BaranskiChristine BaranskiChristine Jane Baranski is an American stage and screen actress, and is perhaps best known for her Emmy Award winning portrayal as "Maryanne Thorpe" in the sitcom Cybill, and her Emmy nominated portrayal of "Diane Lockhart" in The Good Wife...
as Thea - Karen YoungKaren Young (actress)Karen Young is an American actress.Born in Pequannock Township, New Jersey, Young studied at Rutgers University. After graduation she moved to New York City and became an actress, appearing in such films as 9½ Weeks, Jaws: The Revenge, Daylight, Mercy and Hoffa. Her ex-husband is Tom Noonan...
as Sue - William De Acutis as Ted (as William DeAcutis)
- Dwight Weist as Farnsworth
- Roderick CookRoderick CookRoderick Cook was an English playwright, writer, theatre director and actor of stage, television and film...
as Sinclair, the Critic - Victor Truro as Gallery Client
Reception
9½ Weeks has a mixed 62% rating on Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
. Roger Ebert gave the film three and half stars, stating: "A lot of the success of "9½ Weeks" is because Rourke and Basinger make the characters and their relationship convincing". He further elaborated by saying that their relationship was believable, and unlike many other characters in other erotic films at that time, the characters in this movie are much more real and human.
The film was nominated for three categories in the 1986 Golden Raspberry Awards, Worst Actress
Razzie Award for Worst Actress
The Razzie Award for Worst Actress is an award presented at the annual Golden Raspberry Awards to the worst actress of the previous year. The following is a list of nominees and recipients of that award, along with the film for which they were nominated....
(Kim Basinger
Kim Basinger
Kimila Ann "Kim" Basinger is an American actress and former fashion model.She is known for her portrayals of Domino Petachi, the Bond girl in Never Say Never Again , and Vicki Vale, the female lead in Batman . Basinger received a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture...
), Worst Original Song
Razzie Award for Worst Original Song
The Razzie Award for Worst Original Song is an award presented at the annual Golden Raspberry Awards for the worst song written for a film in the previous year. The following is a list of recipients and nominees of that award, along with the film for which they were nominated...
(Jonathan Elias
Jonathan Elias
Jonathan Elias is a U.S. composer and record producer, known for his movie soundtracks, production for several pop and rock acts, and his award-winning advertising music including the PBS logo instrumental from October 1, 1984 to October 1, 1989....
, John Taylor, Michael Des Barres
Michael Des Barres
Lord Michael Philip Des Barres is a British actor and rock singer. He is known for playing the recurring role of Murdoc on the television show MacGyver and for replacing the late Robert Palmer in the band Power Station, fronting the band at the 1985 Live Aid concert...
), and Worst Screenplay
Razzie Award for Worst Screenplay
The Razzie Award for Worst Screenplay is an award presented at the annual Golden Raspberry Awards for the worst film screenplay of the past year. The following is a list of nominees and recipients of that award, including each screenplay's author...
(Patricia Louisianna Knop, Zalman King
Zalman King
Zalman King is an American film director, writer, actor and producer. His directing and writing productions are known for incorporating erotica as a centerpiece to plots which are nevertheless about greater issues.-Acting:As a young man in 1963 he played a gang member on Alfred Hitchcock Presents...
, Sarah Kernochan
Sarah Kernochan
Sarah Kernochan is a documentarian, film director, screenwriter and producer from the United States.After graduating in 1965 from Rosemary Hall , where she was a classmate of Glenn Close, and in 1968 from Sarah Lawrence College, she worked as a ghostwriter for The Village Voice for about a year...
).
Soundtrack and score
The main singleSingle (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
released from the 9½ Weeks: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack was "I Do What I Do
I Do What I Do (Theme for 9½ Weeks)
I Do What I Do... was a 1986 single performed by Duran Duran bassist John Taylor, giving his first solo singing performance during a hiatus in Duran Duran's career....
," performed by Duran Duran
Duran Duran
Duran Duran are an English band, formed in Birmingham in 1978. They were one of the most successful bands of the 1980s and a leading band in the MTV-driven "Second British Invasion" of the United States...
bassist John Taylor, giving his first solo singing performance during a hiatus in Duran Duran's career. The song reached #23 on the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
and #42 on the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
. Music for the score was composed by Taylor and Jonathan Elias
Jonathan Elias
Jonathan Elias is a U.S. composer and record producer, known for his movie soundtracks, production for several pop and rock acts, and his award-winning advertising music including the PBS logo instrumental from October 1, 1984 to October 1, 1989....
. Original music for the movie was also written by Jack Nitzsche
Jack Nitzsche
Bernard Alfred "Jack" Nitzsche was an arranger, producer, songwriter, and film score composer. He first came to prominence in the late 1950s as the right-hand-man of producer Phil Spector, and went on to work with the Rolling Stones, Neil Young and others...
, but his compositions are not included on the soundtrack.
The soundtrack also included tracks from Luba
Luba (singer)
Luba is a Canadian musician, singer, songwriter and recording artist. She was commercially active from 1980 to 1990, 2000 to 2001 and is active again from 2007 to present. She was initially the vocalist for a band named Luba before signing as a solo artist under the one-name moniker...
, Bryan Ferry
Bryan Ferry
Bryan Ferry, CBE is an English singer, musician, and songwriter. Ferry came to public prominence in the early 1970s as lead vocalist and principal songwriter with the band Roxy Music, who enjoyed a highly successful career with three number one albums and ten singles entering the top ten charts in...
, Dalbello
Lisa Dalbello
Dalbello is a Canadian recording artist, songwriter, and voice actress. She released three albums in the pop and pop/rock genre in her late teens, from 1977 through 1981 under her full name...
, Corey Hart, Joe Cocker
Joe Cocker
John Robert "Joe" Cocker, OBE is an English rock and blues musician, composer and actor, who came to popularity in the 1960s, and is most known for his gritty voice, his idiosyncratic arm movements while performing, and his cover versions of popular songs, particularly those of The Beatles...
, Devo
Devo
Devo is an American band formed in 1973 consisting of members from Kent and Akron, Ohio. The classic line-up of the band includes two sets of brothers, the Mothersbaughs and the Casales . The band had a #14 Billboard chart hit in 1980 with the single "Whip It", and has maintained a cult...
, Eurythmics
Eurythmics
Eurythmics were a British pop rock duo, formed in 1980, currently disbanded, but known to reunite from time to time. Consisting of members Annie Lennox and David A...
and Stewart Copeland
Stewart Copeland
Stewart Armstrong Copeland is an American musician, best known as the drummer for the band The Police. During the group's extended hiatus from the mid-1980s to 2007, he played in other bands and composed soundtracks...
. Winston Grennan
Winston Grennan
Winston Grennan was a Jamaican drummer, famous for session work from 1962 to 1973 in Jamaica as well as later in New York City through the 1970s and '80s.-Career:...
's reggae "Savior" as well as Jean Michel Jarre
Jean Michel Jarre
Jean Michel André Jarre is a French composer, performer and music producer. He is a pioneer in the electronic, ambient and New Age genres, and known as an organiser of outdoor spectacles of his music featuring lights, laser displays, and fireworks.Jarre was raised in Lyon by his mother and...
's "Arpegiator," played during the sex scene on the stairs in the rain, were not included on the record.
Sequel and prequel
In 1997, a sequelSequel
A sequel is a narrative, documental, or other work of literature, film, theatre, or music that continues the story of or expands upon issues presented in some previous work...
appeared direct-to-video
Direct-to-video
Direct-to-video is a term used to describe a film that has been released to the public on home video formats without being released in film theaters or broadcast on television...
called Another 9½ Weeks, starring Mickey Rourke and Angie Everhart
Angie Everhart
Angela Kay "Angie" Everhart is an American actress and former fashion model.-Early life:Everhart was born in Akron, Ohio, the daughter of homemaker Ginnie and engineer Bob Everhart. The first of three children, she has a younger brother and a younger sister...
and directed by Anne Goursaud. In 1998, a straight-to-video prequel
Prequel
A prequel is a work that supplements a previously completed one, and has an earlier time setting.The widely recognized term was a 20th-century neologism, and a portmanteau from pre- and sequel...
was made called The First 9½ Weeks, but it did not include any of the original actors.