This video explores the beginnings of mutual attraction between Elizabeth (Kim Basinger), beautiful and inhibited by love, and John (Mickey Rourke), impressive but strange, and follows the romance through the various stages of seduction, power, submission, rage and death. Their relationship lasts, predictably, 9 1/2 weeks.
Content notification
Our collection comprises over 40,000 moving image works, acquired and catalogued between the 1940s and early 2000s. As a result, some items may reflect outdated, offensive and possibly harmful views and opinions. ACMI is working to identify and redress such usages.
Learn more about our collection and our collection policy here. If you come across harmful content on our website that you would like to report, let us know.
How to watch
This work has not been digitised and is currently unavailable to view online. It may be possible for approved reseachers to view onsite at .
Collection
In ACMI's collection
Credits
Collection metadata
ACMI Identifier
324616
Language
English
Audience classification
R (18+)
Subject categories
Advertising, Film, Journalism, Mass Media & TV → Sadism in moving pictures
Family, Gender Identity, Relationships & Sexuality → Masochism
Family, Gender Identity, Relationships & Sexuality → Sadism
Family, Gender Identity, Relationships & Sexuality → Sadism in moving pictures
Feature films → Feature films - United States
Food, Health, Lifestyle, Medicine, Psychology & Safety → Love
Food, Health, Lifestyle, Medicine, Psychology & Safety → Masochism
Food, Health, Lifestyle, Medicine, Psychology & Safety → Sadism
Sound/audio
Captioned
Colour
Colour
Holdings
VHS; Access Print (Section 1)