Female Perversions

Appeared at the 1996 Sundance Film Festival

A best-selling Freudian study about women's sexuality might not seem the best source for a dramatic feature, but first-time filmmaker Susan Streitfeld deftly takes ideas from Louise J. Kaplan's Female Perversions: The Temptations of Emma Bovary and suggests how deviant behavior may be merely a manifestation of societal conditioning. Eve Stephens (Tilda Swinton) is a high-powered attorney who is being considered for a coveted position as a judge. But behind the expensive lipstick, the woman who has it all is coming apart with feelings of repression and inadequacy. With Amy Madigan as Eve's sister, a kleptomaniac with a taste for lingerie and designer accessories.