Kinsey

Kinsey is a biographical drama looking at the life of Alfred Kinsey (Liam Neeson), a founder of human sexuality research. In 1948, he published Sexual Behavior in the Human Male, one of the first recorded works in which science addressed sexual behaviour.

After being hired as a biology lecturer at Indiana University, Kinsey marries Clara McMillen (Laura Linney) and in the course of his teaching, discovers a distinct lack of scientific data on sexual behaviour.

When students ask for advice about their sexual concerns and problems he soon realises that too little clinical research has been conducted to answer their questions. As a result, Kinsey hires a team of researchers to create their own interviewing format to help people to speak freely about their sexual histories without feeling shameful. However, his studies cause outrage and his benefactors abandon him just as his health begins to deteriorate.

The combination of Neeson and Linney, who incidentally starred together in 2003’s Love Actually, albeit in different scenes, is a superb choice. The outstanding Laura Linney even netted herself a second Academy Award nomination for her role in this sublime movie. All in all, an intelligent film that provokes the rare combination of making you think, as well as being hugely fascinating, and provides a wonderful insight into the developments of the taboo topic of sex in the 1940s.

Ricky Anthony Wyatt