How Long Is “Female Perversions”?

This fascinating, fragmented and complex drama eschews traditional narrative structure to present an intellectually challenging, feminist-oriented adaptation of Lousie J. Kaplan's book Female Perversions: The Tempations of Emma Bovary. Though the text, written from a Freudian perspective, is a series of case studies, the film centers on one character, Eve, an talented lawyer, who celebrates winning a case against a crooked business magnate. Eve dreams of becoming a judge, but when she gets a chance to meet the governor she finds herself filled with self-doubt and fear. She compensates for her lack of self-esteem by buying expensive clothing and make up. To make matters worse, Eve is an extremely sexual woman and with no regard to propriety hastily involves herself with Renee, a psychiatrist who has just moved into Eve's building. Meanwhile Eve's sister Madelyn has just been arrested for shoplifting. Madelyn is mentally unstable and when Eve learns of her trouble, she runs to the old boarding house where Madelyn stays. There in the ramshackle room Eve discovers that Madelyn has a few Super-8 films of her father's cruelty. Now both sisters must somehow come to grips with their own childhood pain and find some sense of control in their lives.