If there is a down side to Manuel Gomez Pereira’s Between Your Legs it is that the rather over-provocative title may scare off the sexually conservative. Their loss because Between Your Legs is far from being the trashy sex flick that the title hints at and is instead a tightly wrought, brilliantly twisty Hitchcockian thriller; a tale of lust, betrayal, and murder.
Spanish super star Javier Bardem (The Sea Inside) stars as a successful script writer – his character’s name is also Javier – who meets Miranda (Almodavar regular Victoria Abril) at a twelve step meeting for sex addicts. What you would expect to happen at a co-ed meeting for sex addicts does, in fact, happen and Javier and Miranda quickly become entangled in an affair, one that Miranda is desperate to keep away from her jealous policeman husband. The husband, of course, finds out about the affair and looks to pin a recent, unsolved murder on Javier. And what of the mysterious woman who got Javier hooked on phone sex in the first place? Who is she, really, and how is it that their conversations are being taped and sold in the black market?
Between Your Legs is a film that is virtually impossible to talk about without risking major spoilers. There are twists and turns throughout with the brilliant script finally pulling things together into a shocking, and shockingly neat, conclusion. There is no waste, here. Everything means something, every little detail will come back into play eventually, and every little puzzling moment will eventually be explained. The script is a masterful, subtle piece of writing filled with hidden nooks and crannies and sure to reward repeat viewing.
As you would expect from a film with Bardem and Abril in the leads the acting is also a major strength. The entire cast is just stellar with all of the actors able to convey mounds of meaning and hidden emotion with minimal effort. It certainly doesn't hurt that they are given a hugely meaty script to work with. Not only is Between Your Legs a hugely entertaining thriller but it invests its characters with uncommon depth. Everyone is sleeping with seemingly everyone other than their spouses and the film doesn’t shy away from showing the devastation left in the wake of such misbehavior. Bardem and Abril turn in spectacular performances, both of them haunted, desperately lonely people utterly lost and hopeless in the face of their addiction. Is it any surprise that they latch on to each other with such ferocity, each hoping that the other may be their way out?
Between Your Legs is an adult film in the sense that it demands a certain maturity in its viewers. It deals honestly and directly with sexual politics in a way that simply could not happen in Hollywood, not on these shores where we seem incapable of talking about sex without snickering. There is some skin, yes, but less than you might think as it is more concerned with the emotional drives and consequences than with the physical act.
The Nucleus Films DVD features the film in anamorphic widescreen with the original Spanish language soundtrack in 2.0 and 5.1 varieties. The transfer itself has rich colors but can be a little bit pixilated, something particularly evident in the geometric designs of the hypnotic title sequence. It also comes with a solid behind the scenes featurette and is coded Region 0 for all your poor sods who do not yet have all region equipment. So, not a perfect DVD release but a serviceable one for an excellent film.
It seems that every psychological thriller to come down the pipe wants the Hitchcock comparison but this is a film that actually deserves it. Highly recommended.