EXIT TO EDEN

US, 1994, 113 minutes, Colour.
Dana Delany, Paul Mercurio, Rosie O’Donnell?, Dan Aykroyd, Hector Elizondo, Stuart Wilson, Iman.
Directed by Garry Marshall.

This is a really oddball show from director Garry Marshall (Beaches, Pretty Woman, The Runaway Bride, Princess Diaries). It comes from an erotic novel by Anne Rice (of vampire fame). It is a mixture of soft-core scenes designed for some touches of prurience for the average audience – including an unclad Paul Mercurio, of all people after Strictly Ballroom, and Dana Delany as a dominatrix. The setting is a Californian sex therapy resort.

There is also a police investigation plot with Dan Aykroyd and Rosie O’Donnell? as the two detectives having to go incognito onto the island. Stuart Wilson and Iman are involved in diamond robbery.

The film has some funny moments, mainly thanks to Aykroyd and Rosie O’Donnell?. However, many people will find it something of a put-off. Not exactly Eden.

1. The reputation of Anne Rice? Her vampire novels? Her sex novels? An adaptation to the screen?

2. The Californian settings, Los Angeles, the water, the island? The decor and setup of the island? As a sex therapy resort? The musical score?

3. The credibility of the plot, the satiric tone, sending up sex therapy – but with a conventional happy marriage ending?

4. Paul Mercurio as Eliott Slater? His background, his problems? Going to his psychiatrist? The recommendation to go to the island? His personality, arrival, the audience entering the resort through him? The staff? The dominatrix? Clothes and loss of clothes? The encounter with Lisa? Her using him as a plaything, his going along with it? How seriously? His being affected by the dominatrix? Participating - but then persuading Lisa to be herself? And a happy ending?

5. Dana Delany as Lisa, her background, her family? On the island, in command? The serious/satiric presentation of a dominatrix? Her staff? The sexual overtones, serious and funny? Clothes and lack of clothes? Her behaviour, her preaching freedom, sexuality, masochism? Her being fascinated by Elliot? Summoning him to her presence? Her using him as a slave? The confrontations, her softening, the giving up of her job, the happy ending?

6. The staff? The men? The women? Set up for sex attractiveness? Doctor Halifax and his role for therapy? Comic touches?

7. The photography at the airport, Elliot and his photographing the diamond smugglers, the case? Omar Tillington, his control of the operation, using Iman as a courier? Tracking down the photographer? Going to the island? Having to disguise themselves? The pursuit of Elliot? The detectives – and the comeuppance of the thieves?

8. Sheila and Fred, their work as detectives? Their comic roles? Detection, going to the island? In disguise? Sheila, the dominatrix costume? The member of staff who had a crush on her? Her doing her detective work, tracking Elliot, tracking the thieves? The interactions with Fred? His being caught up in the activities of the island?

9. The combination of the sex therapy story, the sado-sexual atmosphere, the detection work, the diamond smugglers? How well did it come together in the end?