Between Your Legs (1999)

The Worst Film Ever

A lot more amusing than I thought it would be.

It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

I had to watch the film twice to make any sense of the mystery. So many loose ends, and the stories, within stories and so on, only managed to muddy the waters.So here is how I viewed it. Two people meet on a Monday in a sexual addiction support group. That night they proceed to have a mad sexual encounter in the back of a parked car in a parking lot which after a while the film reveals, has a dead body in the trunk. I got from the film, that Javier has already murdered the victim and stuffed him in the trunk and then goes to the support group to pick up an alibi as well as get lines for his scripts that he can no longer get from the phone sex encounters.Here is where the film lost me. What was up with the AIDS infected taxi driver? He is supposed to have taken a packet from somebody for a large sum of money. Could it be that the script and the scrap book that the victim had was being taken out to another country, and that's why the police cannot find any script in their search of the house? The point of the police officer who killed his wife, was inserted as a morality play I think, so that in the end, the husband let's the wife go away without harming her. Ipanema is probably the airlines suggesting that the couple ran off to Brazil to start a new life.The husband / policeman, inadvertently drops the vial containing the pubic hair he finds in his bathroom. That whole vial with the pubic hair thing completely escapes me. How did the hair get into his bathroom and what would that have proved.A thriller alright, but with a lot of loose ends that kept me guessing and confused.

There is something I could not understand by the end of the movie. As they go into the aircraft the camera goes to a close up of the name of the airplane. It seems that something is going to happen with it but then nothing is shown about it. Are they doomed to die in an accident or what?Then Victoria Abril's husband goes into a shop and drops something to the floor. It seems to be the case in which he carries his contact lenses and somebody puts his foot on it and breaks the case.He finally stays with his daughter and a new dog but what's up with Abril and Bardem? I found the movie a good one but there are some missing links.

The point that sex can become a dangerous addiction is not made in a very convincing manner in this film. After starting with a session of a class for curing sexual addiction, the movie focuses on a variety of problems faced by most of the characters, none of whom are very interesting people. At two hours or more the film drags along. Attempts at injecting suspense are pitifully weak. The viewer does think of what Hitchcock would have done with this material, beginning with a clean straight story line, but in the end all one can think is "I saw Hitchcock suspense films and this has no Hitchcock suspense, only clumsy attempts at imitation." A final question: when the leading lady boards the plane holding her little dog is that a suggestion that she will continue taking the dog out when she seeks another man? That everything will continue in much the same way?

This film is very interesting for those who likes sexi-thrillers, Miss Abril reinforces herself as a super spanish star, and as usual, she fills the screen with a strong personality that communicates with the audience not only with a superb performance but with her eyes, voice, and as the film title calls, with her legs.It could be the best use for 4 bucks! (Standard ticket price in México)