Debut Screening: Aug. 31/1996 @ Venice Film Festival (Italy)
Genre: Crime/ Romance/ Thriller
Length: 1 hr. 49 min.
Country: United States
Tagline: Violet & Corky are making laundry day a very big deal.
Starring: Gina Gershon (Corky), Jennifer Tilly (Violet), & Joe Pantoliano (Ceasar)
Written by: Lilly Wachowski & Lana Wachowski (as The Wachowski Brothers)
Directed by: Lilly Wachowski & Lana Wachowski (as The Wachowski Brothers)
Synopsis: Corky is an ex-con fresh out of jail who finds herself working to refurbish an apartment in a Mafia owned building. Upon encountering Violet, one of the neighbors, things begin to heat up as the chemistry between the 2 women leads to a sexually charged affair. Violet, who lives with her money laundering boyfriend Caesar, soon draws Corky into a dangerous plan to steal $2,000,000 from a kingpin gangster boss.
Sites: wikipedia.org/wiki/Bound_(1996_film)
FYI: Gina Gershon (Corky) said of making the film, “I was coming right off of Showgirls, & I was so ultra femme in that. (I cut) all my nails & my hair off, & I started boxing. I had been dancing for 5 months, so I was so floaty & I wanted to be in my body more like a boxer…Marlon Brando, Monty Clift, Robert Mitchum. I went to all those guys. There’s a certain quietness. I wanted to be like all the guys I project (my ideas of heroism & masculinity) on to.” *
Real lesbian extras served as patrons in the lesbian bar scene. The bartender was played by feminist sex writer Susie Bright who was also Bound’s technical advisor.
It’s a Small Sapphic World: Jennifer Tilly (Violet) co- starred in the 1998 film Relax…It’s Just Sex.
In 1995 Gina Gershon shared a memorable Sapphic lip lock with Elizabeth Berkley in the box office flop Showgirls.
Susie Bright appeared as herself in The Celluloid Closet (1995).
Keywords: crime, mob, butch/femme, sexuality, romance, violence, lesbian cinema classic
* ew.com/movies/2019/06/06/jennifer-tilly-gina-gershon-revisit-lesbian-neo-noir-bound
Stills:
Trailer: