Although this film may have been a (somewhat) unrealistic handling of the sort of back woods US towns I grew up in, Too Much Flesh likely did much more justice to the US than, say, Chocolat did to France. At least the French makers did the movie, set in Illinois, in English. Both films look into the provincialist persecution of freer sexuality and mores, but, with regard to the nature of sexual experience, at least, Too Much Flesh was a bit more realistic. It's not realistic just in that the "sex scenes" showed (almost) everything, but that real thought went into the directing of them. I noticed that the audience, like myself, was involved with these scenes just like any other acting in the movie - not seeing them just as an added entertainment perk, but as an important part of the subject matter. Overall, the main character, Lyle, the one with too much flesh, was a very inspired character, as was his actor, Jean-Marc Barr. The wife played by Rosanna Arquette embodied a very tortured and, I think, very possible psyche. Sure, there are weaknesses in the film. It might have been better if there were no "message" in the end, but leaving out the ending, the movie's progression was refreshing, with many interesting and original plot developments and a good number of laughs, too.
Review of Too Much Flesh
