Madonna's body is a dangerous, sexual weapon in 1993's Body of Evidence. An amazing cast headed by Madonna and Willem Dafoe brings this once tawdry tale to life, though now it's strangely innocent and adorable.
Madonna plays Rebecca, a young woman into S&M, whose latest sexual partner was an old man who died of a heart attack while she was straddling him. Since he left everything to her in the will, people think she did it on purpose, that she used her sexy body as nothing less than an instrument of murder.
Enter Willem Dafoe as Frank, her lawyer, who seeks to, you know. Get her off. This is in spite of the fact that he's married to a character played by Julianne Moore who, according to Wikipedia, disliked her nude scene, her first ever, in this movie. I watched it last week and I honestly can't remember her nude scene, if it's any comfort to her. Though maybe that's what she meant when she called it "extraneous". She had plenty of memorable nude scenes in movies after this.
But it's hard to compete with Madonna on that score, though all the sex scenes in this film feel kind of mechanical and starchy. Sure, there's lots of nudity (though no genitalia) and bondage gear and hot wax. But every shot feels like the director of photography said, "Okay, I need you two to stay within exactly this area and try not to move your limbs too much out of the initial pose." I actually found myself looking forward more to the courtroom scenes, which are ridiculous. Joe Mantegna as opposing council somehow brings the thing to trial on the claim that Madonna's sexiness is deadly. Frank Langella shows up to testify against her and the movie also has Anne Archer and Jurgen Prochnow. That's quite a cast for such a lightweight piece of fluff.
Body of Evidence is available on The Criterion Channel this month as part of a collection of Madonna movies.
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