In this fall’s “Psycho-Sexual Thriller Hollywood Sweepstakes,” Ken Russell’s Crimes Of Passion lost financially and critically to the more controversial Body Double from Hitchcockian doppelganger Brian De Plasma (sic).  It’s a pity, because in terms of acting and script (despite some implausibilities), to say nothing of some of the most erotic lovemaking scenes in a major motion picture, Crimes is, by far, the better film.

Kathleen Turner (Body Heat, Romancing The Stone) shines as a straight-laced, repressed career woman who, at night, becomes a hooker named China Blue.  A client (newcomer John Laughlin) discovers her double life and the two fall in love.  The main obstacle to their relationship, aside from his wife and her inability to relate to men as herself, is Anthony Perkins as a sex-obsessed sidewalk preacher whose desire to “save” Turner threatens to turn to violence.

This bizarre “love triangle” is kept going by some fine acting all around, a witty and well-paced script by Barry Sandler, and what remains of the originally X-rated sex scenes.  The first 10 minutes, in which Turner is stalked by an unseen person, are among the most suspenseful and erotic in recent memory.  Just as hot is Turner and Laughlin’s first “session,” a sequence, which leaves very little to the imagination.

In spite of a rather trite denouement and some heavy-handed spots, Crimes Of Passion is a first-rate film that should open up the door (hopefully) for well-made Hollywood releases unafraid to depict eroticism.