Captives MPAA Rating: R Entertainment: +2 Content: -2 1/2

Prison dentist Rachael (Julia Ormond) is divorcing her unfaithful husband, but becomes attracted to Philip (Tim Roth), one of the trustee-inmates. He is allowed out of prison twice a week to attend night school, and one night Rachel agrees to meet him at a cafe. Within seconds, they are pawing and petting, and quickly end up having sex. Later, Rachael finds out Philip murdered his wife, but ignores a friend's warning that by killing his wife Philip made a choice of violence over forgiveness or abandonment. Ralph, a handsome homicidal black prisoner, tells Rachel he will hurt Philip unless she smuggles in some drugs. She discovers the package contains a gun, not drugs, and refuses to turn it over to the inmates. When one of the men tries to take the gun from Rachel, she shoots him. Is Philip worth all this? This mediocre love story is a far cry from Julia Ormond's recent Sabrina. The heavy British accents make CAPTIVES difficult to understand at times, but the film's characters are intriguing.

Rachel's dental practice requires her to place her fingers in the inmate patients' mouths by reaching around them. This intimacy makes her nervous, except with Philip. Their sexual fantasizing and suggestive fondling are gratuitous efforts to titillate viewers. Only seconds after they meet at the cafe, Philip and Rachael have sex on the restroom floor. Although Rachel worries that she's only using Philip to get over her husband, she doesn't curtail her behavior. Violence among the inmates includes Philip viciously beaten by a group of hooded prisoners and one prisoner threatens to poke out the eye of another. Many obscenities add nothing to the film's intrigue. Rachel and Philip have nothing in common except their lust and unfaithful former spouses. The film makes no attempt to show Philip is reformed by Rachel's love or his imprisonment. It's more a reminder that lust is purely physical with no spiritual or moral significance. The film's obscenities, graphic violence and gratuitous sexual content make it inappropriate for discerning viewers.

Preview Reviewer: Theresa Zumwalt
Distributor: Miramax Films, 18 E. 48th St., NY, NY 10017