Swoon  1992

Written and Directed by Tom Kalin

Starring Craig Chester, Daniel Schlachet

"My Blood rose in my heart. I threw myself at her feet and began to cry."

"Tears too!" She began to laugh. Oh this laughter was frightful. "Leave me. I don't want to see you again."

"Oh my God! I will do whatever you command, be your slave, a mere object which which you can do what you will, only don't send me away- I can't bare it- I cannot live without you."

   Thus opens Swoon. Tom Kalin uses these words from Leopold(the father of Masochism) von Sacher Massoch's "Venus in Furs" to welcome us into his interperetation of the case.

   In Kalin's art house black and white world, Nathan Leopold is an arrogant genius, obsessed with Richard Loeb. Loeb again lacks humanity. Yet we see glimpses of the possibility of something else that must be there- if the other is so madly in love with him. We see it mainly in a smile, in a look, but then- it's gone.

   Kalin compresses the time frame and limits what we see, using the available budget of an art film- yet also creating a claustrophobic world in which all that really exists are these two people, a schizophenic world that is like a dream. Other characters do not play a large role. We are limited to Leopold and Loeb- and their thoughts- as the crime approaches. There is no fear. There is no remorse- importantly- on either part. We see Loeb flipping through a detective journal. Leopold listens to foreign language tapes while writing in a notebook. (the psychiatric reports were quite interested in Leopold's notebook writings and doodles.) Everything has a purpose in Swoon, including the use of the anachronistic props, which have annoyed some students of the case. The cassette recorder Leopold uses, which shows his fluency in lan- the push button phones only they have access to, a television remote control- Kalin has plucked the characters out of time and we see them in a world in which the date absolutely does not matter at all.

   Unlike Compulsion, the book or movie, Kalin shows us the crime. Likely for practical reasons than anything else, there is no hunting around the grounds of the Harvard school. Instead they fond Bobby Franks in the Park and offer him a ride home.

Kalin's Leopold and Loeb reclaim their homosexuality- which he imbues with questions. We see them acting playful, smiling, then we see Loeb shove Leopold away violently.

Leopold becomes upset and Loeb eddifies him with a kiss, revealing perhaps the power Loeb had over Leopold, or perhaps it was nothing. We don't know.

This continues into the courtroom, where Kalin takes the other road, the one Levin didn't take. He takes the gay film maker's path. Darrow has 2 lines. Instead, Kalin concentrates on State's Attorney Crowe, and the psychiatric testimony.

We are shown the extent homophobia played in the case, although some deny it. It is impossible to read the trial transcript and come away thinking it wasn't a very key element in so much as in - the crime itself, the motivation, and the way history has looked upon it. Kalin shows us this by placing a bed in the middle of the courtroom- while Dr Bowman- using the testimony of Dr Healy, tells the court all the lurid details of Leopold and Loeb's sex life. This testimony was given quietly during the actual trial. Kalin's Judge clears the courtroom of women, as happened in reality- adding weight to the "perversion" testimony, and causing from then on, a notion in the mind of the public that the entire kidnaping was an act of perversion, that Robery Franks was sexually abused, an idea that remained with the case, that Leopold wrote about in his autobiography, citing a time when he was denied a transfer to the honor farm, because "sexual criminals" were not allowed there.

 Of course the transcript is enormous, and Kalin has selected the pieces that best suit his needs. He focuses on the testimony of Dr's Healy and Bowman. He centers in on Crowe's hurranging for the death of the boys-

his constant references to "perverts" and "inverts" that Compulsion the movie didn't and couldn't mention. We see a piece of the Compulsion courtroom that was missing.

   Alas it too, is not complete. Both movies use what suits their needs. Compulsion preaches Darrow's compassion even for creatures that seemingly don't deserve it. Kalin says- See the intolerance of that time- and see the stupid things we do for love. But Kalin puts all his faith into the interperetation of Dr Bowman and Dr Healy. Perhaps because it was most explicit. And thus Loeb again gets demonized. We are left more or less thinking, as Roger Ebert said in his review of Swoon, that Loeb is "simply an evil person."

   Swoon follows the boys to prison- where it feels forced to take liberties a bit- but it shows Loeb's death, and it's sad. So perhaps we don't actually believe he was pure evil- we just aren't sure.

   Swoon has it's share of inaccuracies, caused mostly by trying to fit so much information into 90 minutes. Thus random people have been cast in the credits. "Gene Lovitz", a friend Leopold had in prison- but he doesn't even do anything in the movie except step into the x ray room where Leopold is working. Yet someone was cast specifically as him. We see Leopold flip through some prisoner mug shots. We see him pause at Lotitz. We see him call Lovitz to the X Ray room. Leopold's friendship with Lovitz is documented in Hal Higdon's book. Thus students of the case know that Leopold's actions imply that Lovitz reminds him of Loeb. But- would this be known to the lay viewer? Likely not. For whom did Kalin make Swoon? Why the incredible urgancy to fit in so much information?

   After Loeb's death, Leopold is locked in the bug ward- which did happen- but he's put in a "wet pack" in Swoon, when in Leopold's autobio- he talks about the Wet Packs as being a rash treatment for the seriously mentally disturbed- that he actually tried to free prisoners of. But it's in there. In reality Leopold was seemingly transfered to the "bug ward" for his own protection- against attack, against revenge, and against suicide. In Swoon he's gone bonkers in his cell, screaming. But dig a little deeper and this screaming is representative of the Jewish wailing at funerals that Leopold cites in his book- and the admonishions of his father at his grandmother's funeral. "Children, not a sound," said Leopold's father. Thus we have the Nathan Leopold that stands in stark contrast to the Compulsion Nathan Leopold. In Swoon, Leopold only cries once locked in the wet pack, alone, in a dark room. Nathan Leopold himself said that nobody in prison ever saw him cry and that he only cried on four occasions, the death of his father, his aunt, his brother....and Richard Loeb.

   Unfortunately, their reunion in prison is not covered, nor is any of the good they did together, i.e the prison school. Loeb dies the evil character. Leopold is allowed to redeem himself a bit at the end. As he did in reality. Loeb never had a chance.

    More stills from "Swoon"