Boxing Helena

Boxing Helena is a 1993 American mystery thriller and body horror film directed by Jennifer Lynch and starring Sherilyn Fenn, Julian Sands, and Bill Paxton. Before its release, the film's production was hampered by legal battles with Madonna and Kim Basinger, who both backed out of playing Helena. The film debuted at the Sundance Film Festival in January 1993, where it was both dismissed and praised in equal measure by critics. After receiving an NC-17 rating from the MPAA, the film was given an R rating on appeal and released in the United States in September 1993. It was a critical and financial failure. Plot Nick Cavanaugh is a lonely Atlanta surgeon obsessed with Helena, a beautiful woman with whom he had one intimate experience, but she feels disdain for him. After she suffers a high-grade tibial fracture in a hit-and-run motor vehicle collision in front of his home, Nick kidnaps Helena and surreptitiously treats her in his home, amputating both her legs above the knee and torturing her in an attempt to control her and his obsession over her. Later, after she tries to choke him, Nick amputates her arms above the elbow. Though Helena is the victim of Nick's kidnapping and mutilation, she dominates the dialogue with constant ridicule of his shortcomings and continues to feel disdain for him and even despise him. However, at the end of the film, it is revealed all this was a dream Helena had while in the hospital for her tibial facture based on her fear of her body being hurt. Cast Sherilyn Fenn as Helena Julian Sands as Nick Cavanaugh Bill Paxton as Ray O'Malley Kurtwood Smith as Alan Palmer Art Garfunkel as Lawrence Augustine Betsy Clark as Anne Garrett Nicolette Scorsese as Fantasy Lover/Nurse Meg Register as Marion Cavanaugh Bryan Smith as Russell Marla Levine as Patricia Kim Lentz as Nurse Diane Lloyd T. Williams as Sam the Clerk