The Wachowskis hit the Bound running

Who’da thunk that the filmmakers responsible for the most revolutionary science-fiction film of the last 25 years would come bolting out of the gate a few years earlier with a sleeper of a neo-noir heist thriller (one recently added to The Criterion Collection, no less)? Bound may not have captured the zeitgeist in 1996 like The Matrix did in 1999, but in retrospect it was easy to spot the innate talents of the Wachowski siblings—formerly Andy and Larry, who publicly transitioned years ago as Lilly and Lana—in their directorial debut.

To listen to a recording of our CineVerse group’s discussion of Bound, conducted last week, click here.

We’ve seen tales of dirty deeds like this made masterfully in the 1940s and 1950s, filmed in black and white during the censorship era by virtuosos of the genre like Billy Wilder, Howard Hawks, John Huston, and Fritz Lang. Bound furthers the shadowplay tradition of classic noir by taking the adult material to a more accepted extreme for modern audiences, with ample violence, gore, and sexual imagery and language on display (although the nudity is relatively tasteful and spare).

The visual style of Bound is one of its prime calling cards, boasting impressive shots, creative camera movements, and moody lighting to produce a dramatic visual effect, despite only having two main sets: Caesar’s apartment and Corky’s apartment next door. The directors and their cinematographer accomplish optic marvels with a small budget and limited resources.

Erotically charged and sexually explicit, with a steamy foreplay scene and a famous nude sequence between Violet and Corky, Bound would have been fair game for criticism as yet another titillating film designed for the male gaze. But the fact that the Wachowskis eventually changed genders and proved to be more attuned to non-heterosexual sensibilities now better acquits this film as a respected work of queer cinema. Twenty-eight years onward, Bound is regarded by many in the LGBTQ+ community as one of the best movies featuring lesbian characters and a somewhat pioneering work that predates more modern representations of queer characters in cinema.

Chicago Reader journalist Cam Cieszki wrote: “Bound was ahead of the curve and all the better for it, deepening Violet and Corky’s connection and keeping their romance centered around real communities. Bound gleefully toys with the binaries and restrictive scripts enforced upon bodies and spirits. Just as The Matrix invites a trans textual reevaluation—spurred from its creators coming out as trans women years after release—Bound subconsciously uses its genre-bending cinematic elements toward corporeal freedom and autonomy.”

Bound was also refreshing for its time by not suggesting that the lesbianism was perverse, unhealthy, or dangerous. Slant Magazine’s Jake Cole posited: “The basic subject matter of the film…runs counter to decades of noir’s fraught depiction of openly or heavily coded queer characters as usually the villain motivated by repression and longing. Bound walks a fine line in introducing its characters in blatantly criminal terms (Violet’s shameless seduction and manipulation of Corky, Corky’s tough-as-nails demeanor and reference to a rap sheet) before having them pull off a scheme worthy of Billy Wilder, only to slowly humanize them through their deepening sexual connection. This is an erotic thriller where eroticism is the agent of redemption, not damnation.”

The film further earns respect among viewers and critics critical of male gaze filmmaking thanks to the hiring of an intimacy choreographer and sex consultant, Susie Bright, who supervised the lovemaking scene.

This is a movie that espouses embracing your true sexual identity. Bound is a literal and figurative “coming out of the closet” story about trusting and accepting your preferred sexuality and your preferred sexual partner, a film with surprising gender politics. Violet and Corky defy the sexual and gender expectations others assign to them, proving to be much more than what meets the eye. Violet uses her dumb moll act and high-pitched sexpot voice to fool the mobsters, demonstrating intelligence and savvy in outwitting them; and Corky, despite being hard-edged and jaded from her prison stretch and previous criminal experiences, is willing to be vulnerable in Violet’s hands and fall in love with someone she probably shouldn’t trust.

Bound forces us to answer the question: Can you fully trust someone when you’re both in a precarious situation? This picture is all about duplicity and disloyalty, as we witness Violet deceive and betray the gangsters while staying true to Corky. “Because we are familiar with the conventions of film noir, we cannot help but suspect Violet throughout,” wrote Deep Focus Review’s Brian Eggert. “That she never double-crosses Corky is less a disappointment or failure to realize the character’s potential than a romantic jolt. This is where Bound becomes more than just a thriller, or a film that would exploit its lesbian characters; rather, it’s a sordid and violent love story. The Wachowskis present Corky as a strong woman who has been wounded by other women in the past, and rather than play out her repetitive and ill-fated lot, as so many film noir protagonists have, she finds true love.”

Bound also plays like a high-stakes game of chess where death can pounce after any finished turn by a player. The tightly woven plot skillfully ratchets up the tension as we observe how the lovers, who think they’ve concocted an airtight scheme, must pivot and improvise as the pieces on the chessboard move in ways they didn’t expect.

Similar works

• Erotic thrillers of the 1990s, including Basic Instinct, Single White Female, Wild Things, Cruel Intentions, and Poison Ivy
• Neo noirs and thrillers of the 1990s including The Last Seduction, Red Rock West, Jade, and Killing Zoe
• Classic noir films involving a crime scheme for profit like Double Indemnity, The Postman Always Rings Twice, and Out of the Past
• Blood Simple
• Mad Dog and Glory, also set in Chicago
• Thelma and Louise
• Disobedience
• High Art
• The Handmaiden
• Love Lies Bleeding
• Drive
• Sin City

Other films by the Wachowskis

• The Matrix films
• Cloud Atlas
• Speed Racer
• Jupiter Ascending