It may just look like a movie about experimentation with bisexuality and the "blending" of experiences, but that is just the surface. On a deeper level Kissing Jessica Stein is a movie about the interpretation and misinterpretation of art. Jessica is a hopeful artist and writer, but is too ashamed to show the world her pieces. She is extremely introverted and almost snobby, and definitely neurotic. That being said, she is passionate about art and even if she does not share it with the rest of the world, she is looking for someone to understand and appreciate her art. Helen is not an artist. She is an assistant at a gallery. She is also completely unoriginal. The mysterious quote she uses for her want ad isn't even her idea, but something her friend picks off of his shelf and reads to her. Helen misinterprets art all the time. She believes Jessica's slowness to engage in physical relations is because she's a "tease." She knows from the beginning that Jessica is straight and yet she makes moves and sees signals where there are none or little.
Basically Helen finds a girl who's down on her luck and exploits her weakness, thinking she can turn her into a lesbian. Helen's two gay friends warn her about her behavior while they are searching in a dump for pieces of art. They tell her she knows her friend is completely straight right. She then tries to have a deep thought provoking question: If we both had sex with you, would you tell the difference? Her "insightful" comment is dismissed when her guy friend says: I don't know, Helen, do you get tired and stop half-way through? Then, Helen's lack of artistic insight is shown once again when picking up random pieces of trash Helen endeavors to find art, and is unsuccessful until her friend finds a piece for her. Towards the end when Jessica and Helen are decorating their apartment, Helen is again unoriginal, using a Feng Shui book to figure out where to put furniture. Helen and Jessica both are living a deluded fantasy believing that two girl friends could become long term sexual partners.
The movie points to the person who is also an artist and who understands Jessica's art the whole movie. It is the neglected ex boyfriend that ends up snagging Jessica's true sexual affection in the end. They both begin to discuss what they are writing about and the hardships of being a starving artist, when they ask for each other's phone numbers and emails. Maybe I'm completely off-base about the true intent of the movie, but there has got to be more to this movie than sexual experimentation.
This class has really made me think about love different. Of course I still love my husband and believe he's the one, but I see now pop culture's definition of love to be a perfect fairy tale as untrue. I guess I knew that before the class, but never quite specifically, just an idea. It's true that relationships aren't perfect and there is a part of us that will never be fulfilled by a relationship.
