Like Polanski's "Chinatown" from a few years earlier, or the more recent "L.A. Confidential", "Body Heat" can be regarded as an example of neo-noir, a film which uses modern cinema techniques while trying to capture the spirit of the classic films noirs from the forties and fifties. The plot- an unfaithful wife conspiring with her lover to murder her husband- was a noir staple, being used in "Double Indemnity" and "The Postman Always Rings Twice". Indeed, "Body Heat" is sometimes described as a remake of "Double Indemnity"- in my view inaccurately, as there are major differences between the plots of the two films. Although films noirs such as "Double Indemnity" frequently had plots which revolved around sexual passion, the moral climate of the forties and the Production Code meant that this had to be implied rather than shown explicitly on the screen. By the eighties the moral climate had become more liberal, which meant that neo-noir films could be far more explicit than their predecessors.
Matty Walker, the unhappily-married younger wife of a wealthy and successful but unsympathetic Florida businessman, becomes involved with Ned Racine, a local lawyer, and they begin a passionate affair. (There are several love scenes between William Hurt and Kathleen Turner). They plot together to murder Matty's husband Edmund in order to inherit his money. Racine, as played by William Hurt, is arrogant, swaggering and cocky. He is ambitious but lazy, a man of both dubious competence and dubious ethical standards, who keeps equally dubious company. (His associates include Mickey Rourke's arsonist). He likes to think that he is always in control of the situation, but in reality he can be easily manipulated by Matty, a classic noir femme fatale. This was Kathleen Turner's first film, but she gives a remarkably assured performance as the glamorous and seductive Matty. (To be fair, Barbara Stanwyck was equally seductive in "Double Indemnity"- an even more remarkable performance when one considers that Stanwyck, unlike Turner, did not have the assistance of nudity or sex scenes).
In the second half of the film, the plot becomes increasingly complex and difficult to follow; there is a particularly implausible final twist (which I will not reveal). Nevertheless, film noir is a genre in which atmosphere is often more important than plot ("The Big Sleep" is a good example). The same holds true for neo-noir, and "Body Heat" is a highly atmospheric film. The adjective "steamy" is often used metaphorically to mean "sexually explicit", but this film can also be described as steamy in the literal sense. The title refers to the fact that Matty is said to have a natural body temperature of 100 Fahrenheit rather than the normal 98.4 (something which doubtless explains her sexual insatiability). It also refers to the fact that the action takes place during a heatwave. The atmosphere is one of extreme heat, of sweat, of physical lassitude, of moral decay and of sexual tension, an atmosphere heightened by John Barry's mournful and highly evocative jazz score. Many scenes take place at night, and director Lawrence Kasdan succeeds in giving these a look equivalent to the classic noir look. Instead of the moody black-and-white photography characteristic of noir, Kasdan uses in these scenes a colour scheme dominated by blacks, reds and oranges, something which emphasises the feelings of heat and passion.
"Body Heat" was made in the same year as the Jack Nicholson/Jessica Lange remake of "The Postman Always Rings Twice", and the two films were often regarded as evidence of a trend in Hollywood towards a franker treatment of erotic subjects during this period. It seemed that the eighties were going to be the decade of the erotic thriller. That was not quite how things worked out in reality; the arrival of AIDS in the middle of the decade led to a revived moralism in the film industry so far as sex was concerned (although not necessarily so far as violence was concerned), and the levels of eroticism seen in "Body Heat" became the exception rather than the rule in the mainstream cinema. (There were a number of so-called "erotic thrillers" in the early nineties, most of which seemed to star either Tanya Roberts or Shannon Tweed, but these were films which concentrated much more upon erotica than they did on thrills, little more than softcore porn with a plot). The result is that "Body Heat" today seems as much of a period piece as "Double Indemnity" or "The Big Sleep". It remains, nevertheless, an effective piece of cinema. 7/10
Matty Walker, the unhappily-married younger wife of a wealthy and successful but unsympathetic Florida businessman, becomes involved with Ned Racine, a local lawyer, and they begin a passionate affair. (There are several love scenes between William Hurt and Kathleen Turner). They plot together to murder Matty's husband Edmund in order to inherit his money. Racine, as played by William Hurt, is arrogant, swaggering and cocky. He is ambitious but lazy, a man of both dubious competence and dubious ethical standards, who keeps equally dubious company. (His associates include Mickey Rourke's arsonist). He likes to think that he is always in control of the situation, but in reality he can be easily manipulated by Matty, a classic noir femme fatale. This was Kathleen Turner's first film, but she gives a remarkably assured performance as the glamorous and seductive Matty. (To be fair, Barbara Stanwyck was equally seductive in "Double Indemnity"- an even more remarkable performance when one considers that Stanwyck, unlike Turner, did not have the assistance of nudity or sex scenes).
In the second half of the film, the plot becomes increasingly complex and difficult to follow; there is a particularly implausible final twist (which I will not reveal). Nevertheless, film noir is a genre in which atmosphere is often more important than plot ("The Big Sleep" is a good example). The same holds true for neo-noir, and "Body Heat" is a highly atmospheric film. The adjective "steamy" is often used metaphorically to mean "sexually explicit", but this film can also be described as steamy in the literal sense. The title refers to the fact that Matty is said to have a natural body temperature of 100 Fahrenheit rather than the normal 98.4 (something which doubtless explains her sexual insatiability). It also refers to the fact that the action takes place during a heatwave. The atmosphere is one of extreme heat, of sweat, of physical lassitude, of moral decay and of sexual tension, an atmosphere heightened by John Barry's mournful and highly evocative jazz score. Many scenes take place at night, and director Lawrence Kasdan succeeds in giving these a look equivalent to the classic noir look. Instead of the moody black-and-white photography characteristic of noir, Kasdan uses in these scenes a colour scheme dominated by blacks, reds and oranges, something which emphasises the feelings of heat and passion.
"Body Heat" was made in the same year as the Jack Nicholson/Jessica Lange remake of "The Postman Always Rings Twice", and the two films were often regarded as evidence of a trend in Hollywood towards a franker treatment of erotic subjects during this period. It seemed that the eighties were going to be the decade of the erotic thriller. That was not quite how things worked out in reality; the arrival of AIDS in the middle of the decade led to a revived moralism in the film industry so far as sex was concerned (although not necessarily so far as violence was concerned), and the levels of eroticism seen in "Body Heat" became the exception rather than the rule in the mainstream cinema. (There were a number of so-called "erotic thrillers" in the early nineties, most of which seemed to star either Tanya Roberts or Shannon Tweed, but these were films which concentrated much more upon erotica than they did on thrills, little more than softcore porn with a plot). The result is that "Body Heat" today seems as much of a period piece as "Double Indemnity" or "The Big Sleep". It remains, nevertheless, an effective piece of cinema. 7/10