Body Heat

1981, United States
Director: Lawrence Kasdan
Writer: Lawrence Kasdan

There was a time when I indelibly associated film noir with detective stories, but I’m starting to get a feel for the broader genre – the entanglement of passion, the tension of a criminal existence, the backdrop of cultural estrangement. Body Heat was one of the first successful examples of neo-noir, updating the themes established in the 50s with modern characters and settings. Taking place in an unseasonably hot Florida and effectively employing knowledge of the modern legal system, it’s a film that generates strong viewer interest from start to end.

Though peripheral characters come and go, the film is completely centered on Ned Racine (William Hurt) and Matty Walker (Kathleen Turner), who maintain an uneasy existence between themselves and the rest of the world. The film does an excellent job of capturing their desperation and their irresistible desires. Early on, Racine’s helplessness against his passion is given form in a physical act, making for a unique and memorable scene. As the plot evolves, the urgency shifts to Walker, as we learn more about her past and her nuanced personality. When they are thus both revealed to the audience, their relationship is consummated in a single, terrible desire. This singular need is also embodied in their mutual, purely physical lust.

Nonetheless, the film is not nearly as simple as it may at times appear. There are ever-evolving complications, and there is a final trick that Kasdan will leave to play in the final act. I debate the effectiveness of this trump card, which becomes particularly problematic in an unnecessary final shot. If Kasdan had allowed his crime of passion to speak for itself, and allowed mysteries to linger in the mind, he might have created some degree of masterpiece; as it is, he squanders a powerful emotional build-up on an ending that leaves us a little too satisfied. That said, the final revelations make it possible to watch the film a second time with a completely different perspective, a feat few films achieve.

Style: 7
The most stylistic aspect of Body Heat is the constant reference to the temperature. Sweat is visible in nearly every scene. Though I appreciate the attempt to establish atmosphere, I did not get a fantastic sense of this supposedly unbearable climate. Part of this, I think, is because so many shots are done in the evening, with the subdued colors cooling the environments. I do like how Kasdan effects a certain claustrophobic quality in many shots, particularly in a tense scene taking place in fog.

Substance: 7
Borderline 8, but I felt it necessary to deduct a point for a sort of cop-out and artistically inadequate ending. I think much of the dialogue is well-written and compelling, and Kasdan’s script maintains a fantastic degree of tension.

Overall: 7
Like many reviews, I am caught between two scores. I could justify an 8 based on the wonderfully dramatic, grandiose fatalism that crescendos somewhere around the hour and a half mark. All the elements are in place for a powerful and lingering finale, but Kasdan falls a little short, and it hurts the movie’s overall effect.