Female Perversions

Inspired by the non-fiction text by Dr. Louise J. Kaplan in which "perversions" are defined as deviations from strict societal proscriptions on female behavior, Female Perversions takes studies of several different female characters and turns them into the film's "plot." Each one feels like something which began as a case study, then evolved into a fully-realized individual: a woman obsessed with getting her boyfriend to marry her; a confident sexual manipulator; a pubescent girl terrified of her impending womanhood. At the center is Eve Stephens (Tilda Swinton, Orlando), a career woman with a darker side whose live(s) come unraveled after a series of crises. Director Susan Streitfeld occasionally stumbles (when she reduces Eve's complex psychology to the result of one childhood trauma, for instance), but the film often transcends simplistic analysis, giving a face to the struggles of being a modern woman. Recommended. (S Renshaw)