Philip Kaufman’s 1990 movie about Anaïs Nin and Henry Miller isn't just a period piece about writers in Paris. It's actually the reason the "NC-17" rating exists in the first place. Before the Henry & June film hit theaters, if a movie was too explicit for an R, it got an X. And back then, "X" meant porn. It was a kiss of death for mainstream distribution.
Kaufman, who had already directed The Unbearable Lightness of Being, found himself in a weird spot with Universal Pictures. They had this gorgeous, intellectual, highly erotic film that the MPAA refused to give an R rating. They didn't want it lumped in with the smut houses. So, they lobbied for a new category.
NC-17 was born. It stood for "No Children Under 17 Admitted." It was supposed to be the "adults only" badge of honor for serious cinema.
Did it work? Well, sorta.
The Literary Love Triangle That Wasn't Really a Triangle
The story is based on the posthumously published, unexpurgated diaries of Anaïs Nin. If you've read her stuff, you know she didn't hold back. The movie follows Anaïs (played by Maria de Medeiros) as she navigates a suffocatingly polite marriage to Hugo Pole in 1930s Paris. Then she meets Henry Miller.
Fred Ward plays Miller like a force of nature—loud, crude, and desperately broke. He’s working on Tropic of Cancer, a book that was banned in the U.S. for decades. But the real spark isn't just between the two writers. It’s when Henry’s wife, June, arrives.
Uma Thurman plays June. She's haunting. She's the kind of person who walks into a room and the air pressure changes. Anaïs becomes obsessed with her. It’s a messy, overlapping web of desire, intellectual posturing, and early 20th-century bohemian grit.
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The Henry & June film manages to capture that specific feeling of being young, pretentious, and horny in a city that smells like rain and cheap wine. It doesn't feel like a stuffy history lesson. It feels like a fever dream.
Why the Cinematography Still Holds Up
Philippe Rousselot shot this thing, and it looks like a painting. It’s all gold tones, deep shadows, and soft edges. There's a reason it got an Oscar nomination for Best Cinematography.
Honestly, most modern movies look too "clean" because of digital sensors. This was shot on film, and you can feel the grain. It mirrors the texture of the diaries themselves. Kaufman used a lot of close-ups—not just of faces, but of hands, pens, paper, and skin. It makes the whole experience feel claustrophobic in a good way. Like you’re eavesdropping on a conversation you shouldn't be hearing.
The Controversy That Defined the 90s
When the Henry & June film was released, the media went into a total frenzy. People were shocked. By today’s standards? It’s spicy, sure, but it’s tame compared to what you’d see on HBO on a Sunday night.
The issue was the context.
The MPAA had a specific problem with a scene in a brothel and the general "tone" of the sexuality. It wasn't just about showing skin; it was about the fact that the film portrayed female desire as something active and complicated. It wasn't "voyeuristic" in the way slasher movies or cheap thrillers were. It was psychological.
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When the NC-17 rating was announced, many theaters still refused to show the movie. Blockbuster Video—remember them?—initially wouldn't carry NC-17 titles. Newspapers wouldn't run ads for them. The "adult" rating became a scarlet letter anyway. Instead of liberating filmmakers, it mostly just killed the commercial viability of whatever it touched.
Kaufman fought hard for his vision. He refused to cut the film down to get an R. He argued that cutting the sex out of a story about Anaïs Nin and Henry Miller was like taking the bullets out of a war movie. It makes no sense.
The Cast: Career Highs and Strange Choices
Maria de Medeiros looks exactly like the real Anaïs Nin. It’s actually kind of creepy. She has that wide-eyed, porcelain-doll look that hides a lot of calculation.
Fred Ward was an interesting choice for Miller. He was mostly known for "tough guy" roles like in Tremors or The Right Stuff. But he brings a physicality to Miller that works. Henry Miller wasn't some delicate poet; he was a guy who walked the streets of Paris until his shoes fell apart. Ward captures that hunger.
And Uma Thurman? She was only about 19 or 20 when they filmed this. She plays June Miller with a level of weariness that seems impossible for someone that young. June was a shapeshifter—a woman who reinvented her past every time she spoke. Thurman nails that instability.
Is the Henry & June Film Actually Accurate?
If you're a literary purist, you might find some issues. The movie simplifies the timeline. In reality, the relationship between these three people was even more fractured and lasted longer in various forms.
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- The Hugo Factor: In the movie, Hugo (Anaïs’s husband) is depicted as a bit of a bore, but someone she truly loves. In her real diaries, she was often much more scathing about her domestic life.
- The "June" Enigma: The real June Mansfield Miller remains a mystery to this day. We only know her through Henry’s books and Anaïs’s diaries. The movie treats her as a Muse, but she was likely a much more tragic, struggling figure in her own right.
- The Writing Process: One thing the film gets right is the sheer work involved in being a writer. The sound of the typewriters, the stacks of discarded paper, the obsession with finding the "right" word. It captures the labor of art.
The film is more of an "impression" of their lives than a beat-by-beat biography. It cares more about the vibe of 1931 Paris than the specific dates of when Tropic of Cancer was finished.
Legacy and Where to Find It Today
Because of the NC-17 stigma, the Henry & June film isn't always easy to find on major streaming platforms. It pops up on Criterion Channel or specialized boutique services occasionally. It’s become a bit of a cult classic for people who love 20th-century literature or film history.
It paved the way for movies like Shame or Blue Is the Warmest Color, though the NC-17 rating remains a controversial "death sentence" for many indie films. Most directors would rather cut their film to pieces than accept the rating that Kaufman’s movie pioneered.
If you’re going to watch it, don’t expect a fast-paced plot. It’s a slow burn. It’s about people talking in cafes, drinking absinthe, and trying to figure out how to be "free" in a world that wants them to be respectable.
Actionable Takeaways for Film Buffs and Readers
If this corner of history interests you, there are a few ways to dive deeper without just re-watching the movie:
- Read "Henry and June" (The Diary): This is the specific volume of Anaïs Nin’s diary that the film covers. It’s way more explicit and neurotic than the movie. It’s a fascinating look at a woman’s internal monologue.
- Check out "Tropic of Cancer": If you want to see what Henry Miller was actually writing during this time, this is the book. Be warned: it’s dense, vulgar, and brilliant.
- Watch the "Special Features": If you can find a physical copy or a digital version with the director's commentary, Philip Kaufman explains the whole battle with the MPAA. It's a masterclass in film industry politics.
- Visit the Locations (Virtually or In-Person): Much of the film was shot on location in Paris. You can still visit the Clichy area and the spots where the real Miller lived and starved.
The Henry & June film remains a landmark in adult cinema. It proved that you could make a movie about sex that was actually about the human soul, even if the censors weren't quite ready for it. It’s a beautiful, messy, daring piece of work that reminds us that art isn't supposed to be safe.
To truly understand the impact, look at how we talk about ratings today. Every time a film "pushes the envelope," it’s walking through a door that Henry and Anaïs kicked open in 1990. Whether the NC-17 rating helped or hindered that progress is still up for debate, but the film itself stands as a testament to the power of unvarnished storytelling.
Next Steps for Deepening Your Knowledge:
- Compare the Perspectives: Read a chapter of Tropic of Cancer alongside a few pages of Anaïs Nin's Henry and June. Notice how differently they describe the same events—Miller focuses on the grit and the physical, while Nin focuses on the psychological and the symbolic.
- Explore the NC-17 Archive: Look up the list of films that have received an NC-17 rating since 1990. You’ll find a wide range from Showgirls to Lust, Caution. Seeing what the MPAA deems "too much" provides a weirdly accurate map of cultural anxieties over the last thirty years.
- Research June Miller: Spend some time looking for the few existing photographs of the real June Mansfield. Understanding the woman who inspired two of the 20th century's most famous writers adds a layer of reality to the stylized version you see on screen.