one of the indicator of badness in film is the hype being remembered more than film itself .
such was the case with boxing helena , 1993 directorial debut of jennifer chambers lynch , daughter of the great david lynch .
made in the dying years of post - twin peaks lynch craze among movie snobs , it was hyped as another , " warped , twisted masterpiece " of lynch clan .
kim basinger also provided extra publicity by quitting the lead role and being sued for the breech of contract .
but , the result was extremely disappointing film , which quickly sank into well - deserved oblivion .
the movie protagonist is nick cavanaugh ( played by julian sands ) , talented surgeon who is getting obsessed by helena ( sherilyn fenn ) , beautiful woman who ditched him after brief affair .
cavanaugh stalks her and uses every opportunity for the pathetic attempts to re - establish the relationship .
during one of such occasions , helena is hit by a car , and nick quickly takes the role of her personal physician in order to have his way with her . after she wakes up , helena discovers not only that she is prisoner in cavanaugh 's stylish residence , but also that cavanaugh amputated her legs in order to prevent her from escaping .
she is still trying to escape , so cavanaugh takes off her arms .
apart from casting sherilyn fenn ( audrey horne in twin peaks and small cameo in wild at heart ) and the use of twisted characters and their perverse fantasies , this film by ms .
lynch has n't got anything in common with the works of director 's more talented father .
despite rather bizarre subject , the style of this film is conventional and setting is light , characters are beautiful - but
the result at the end is quite sterile and the film in the end looks too artificial for dark sexual fantasy it was supposed to portray .
jennifer lynch obviously lacks talents in directing and it becomes painfully obvious in the scenes that are supposed to erotic - its banal artificiality is even bellow the standards of playboy videos .
the actors are n't good either .
julian sands is terribly miscast as emotionally disturbed man - this actors is best either when he plays charismatic protagonists or villains ; being neurotic does n't suit him .
bill paxton was better for this role , but his presence was wasted in forgettable and unnecessary subplot dealing with helena 's boyfriend .
sherilyn fenn contributed to this film mostly by her looks , but even the her greater effort in acting could n't help this film .
the screenplay , on the other hand , is awful , at least for someone who had made best - seller with laura palmer 's diary
- the events in this movie are implausible , characters come and go without purpose and many unnecessary subplots only slow down the film and add to the total confusion .
one of those subplots involves character of cavanaugh 's " regular " girlfriend , played by betsy clarke .
the twist at the end , although unpredictable , is unbelievable and the viewers , who had the stomach to endure entire film , would feel cheated .
all in all , boxing helena is disorganised quasi - artistic mess of a movie that should be remembered as nothing more than one of the wiser decisions in kim basinger 's career .
Output: N