Jade is a self-mocking film, insofar as it references its sister film, Basic Instinct: the dangerous female protagonist, the setting of San Francisco, the glib pseudo psychology, even the dialogue. Yet even if you never saw Basic Instinct, it still stands as a tense, radical and erotic thriller.
It builds the world of the characters with such power and confidence that you believe everything, despite the implausible, overblown and familiar plot. There is also a lot of self-deprecating humour in the use of stereotypes – the corrupt governor, the voyeur-next-door, the cheating husband – that you start enjoying the game rather than judging it.
The film has one of the best car chase sequences ever, through the vertiginous streets of San Francisco, via a fiercely colourful Chinese parade – complete with rippling dragons and laughing buddhas – to the seedy docks. The black Ford Thunderbird takes on a malevolent persona of its own – with a blood-soaked eye, opaque windows and a shark-black body, it becomes a chilling assassin.
Controversial writer Joe Estherhaz created a new cinematic anti-heroine in the 90s, with Catherine Tramell (Sharon Stone) in Basic Instinct and Trina Gavin (Linda Fiorentino) in Jade: powerful and beautiful women exploring the extremes of their sexuality, to the sharpest point of violence, brutality and even death.
It says more about the power dynamics between men and women than the sex itself, which is what many critics missed. They are played against craven, weak and ineffectual male characters. While the sex scenes titillate with S&M themes and lesbian fantasies, there are also squirmy and subconscious castration fears behind every frame.
It builds the world of the characters with such power and confidence that you believe everything, despite the implausible, overblown and familiar plot. There is also a lot of self-deprecating humour in the use of stereotypes – the corrupt governor, the voyeur-next-door, the cheating husband – that you start enjoying the game rather than judging it.
The film has one of the best car chase sequences ever, through the vertiginous streets of San Francisco, via a fiercely colourful Chinese parade – complete with rippling dragons and laughing buddhas – to the seedy docks. The black Ford Thunderbird takes on a malevolent persona of its own – with a blood-soaked eye, opaque windows and a shark-black body, it becomes a chilling assassin.
Controversial writer Joe Estherhaz created a new cinematic anti-heroine in the 90s, with Catherine Tramell (Sharon Stone) in Basic Instinct and Trina Gavin (Linda Fiorentino) in Jade: powerful and beautiful women exploring the extremes of their sexuality, to the sharpest point of violence, brutality and even death.
It says more about the power dynamics between men and women than the sex itself, which is what many critics missed. They are played against craven, weak and ineffectual male characters. While the sex scenes titillate with S&M themes and lesbian fantasies, there are also squirmy and subconscious castration fears behind every frame.