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Hideous kinky

Threat advisory: High - High risk of entertaining activities

Movie propaganda

It's not just an adventure, it's a love affair.

Julia (Kate Winslet), the beautiful, impetuous 25-year-old single mother of Bea (Bella Riza) and Lucy (Carrie Mullan) has abandoned life in dreary London and brought her daughters to Marrakech, determined that they should enjoy a different upbringing to her own. She wants to take the family to Algeria, where she plans to find herself, but in the meanwhile they try to exist between the cheques that arrive infrequently from the girls' father.

In the city square Bea and Lucy watch a show as an acrobat and an old man entertain the crowd. Lucy is entranced and introduces her mother to Bilal (Saïd Taghmaoui) the acrobat, a young man who clearly lives on his wits. There is an immediate attraction between the two...

Persons of interest

Kate Winslet .... Julia
Saïd Taghmaoui .... Bilal
Bella Riza .... Bea
Carrie Mullan .... Lucy
Pierre Clémenti .... Santoni
Abigail Cruttenden .... Charlotte
Ahmed Boulane .... Ben Said
Sira Stampe .... Eva
Amidou .... Sufi Sheikh
Michelle Fairley .... Patricia
Kevin McKidd .... Henning
Peter Youngblood Hills .... Hippy
Mohcine Barmouni .... Aziz
Annouar Zrika .... Hicham
Mohamed Cherkaoui .... Hadaoui
Esther Freud .... Author
Billy MacKinnon .... Screenwriter
Gillies MacKinnon .... Director

Intelligence analyst

Special Agent Matti

Theatrical report

Um, err, well... I don't quite know.

Hideous kinky is inspired from life but interpreted through several layers of media (book, screenplay, film) so it's been rather bastardised in the process, but I mean bastardised in the nicest possible way.

The performances are all very good, especially Carrie Mullan as 6-year-old Lucy. She has an innocence and a worldliness that are unnerving. Bella Riza is as hard as nails yet retains the innocence of youth. Kate Winslet is worlds away from the sinking boat, showing why she got that job in the first place. Saïd Taghmaoui steams with Moroccan heat and sensuality, burning with passion and scalding those around him.

The locations are spectacular - mountains, rocks, sand, goats, adobe, poverty, colour... a far cry from downtown Paddington. They are as important and as effective as any of the human characters.

So what did I think of the film? Well... it was ok. The plotline is very loose, wandering from adventure to adventure but never getting any further than the place it started. The adventures are great, very entertaining but the overall theme of Hideous kinky can be summed up as "We did stuff and then we went home".

This will take anyone's mind off the late summer heat (especially if you're in an air-conditioned cinema) but I don't feel confident of recommending it to just anyone. Chicks maybe? Or ex-hippies (it's set in the early 70s - more kaftans than you can shake a joss stick at)? Romantics? Hideous kinky is worth the price of admission so you decide.

Security censorship classification

M (Low level coarse language)

Surveillance time

98 minutes (1:38 hours)

Not for public release in Australia before date

Film: 4 February 1999

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