Kinsey Review

The impact of Alfred Kinsey's 1948 study 'Sexual Behaviour In The Human Male' was compared to that of the atom bomb. The same cannot be said for writer-director Bill Condon's take on the scientist, though it certainly caused controversy on its release.

The film begins with a neat device: black-and-white interviews conducted by Kinsey acolytes (the type that would have been used to help compile the report) introduce us to their mentor and his own background. A biologist specialising in the study of a specific species of wasp at Harvard, Kinsey moves on to Indiana University where he is hired to teach biology. A rather awkward fellow, with few social skills, he nevertheless marries freethinking female student Clara McMillen (Linney) and has a family with her.

Slowly becoming aware of the dearth of knowledge about human sexuality, he resolves to undertake his revolutionary study, recruiting several helpers including Clyde Martin (Sarsgaard), Wardell Pomeroy (O'Donnell) and Paul Gebhard (Hutton). But the fallout of the report, as America enters the highly conservative Cold War era, sees the Kinsey group isolated, with their funding ultimately cut off. Worst of all, the man determined to educate through much-needed scientific study is accused of destabilising American moral values.

Condon certainly deserves plaudits for his courage and sharp wit in selecting such a subject. Sex is highly contentious again, with Kinsey himself being slandered by a Christian fundamentalist Right that sees the good doctor responsible for beginning the sexual revolution. The film would barely have caused an eyelid to be batted in the Clinton era but in 2004, with reactionary puritan ideology (involving such notions as encouraging teens to abstain rather than properly educating them about safe sex) abroad in the land, it aroused a fair share of sabre-rattling from the forces of conservatism.