Lipstick
21-year-old Christine "Chris" McCormick (Margaux Hemingway) is a highly paid fashion model whose image serves as the driving force of the ad campaign for a popular brand of lipstick, and she can be se…
Lipstick
21-year-old Christine "Chris" McCormick (Margaux Hemingway) is a highly paid fashion model whose image serves as the driving force of the ad campaign for a popular brand of lipstick, and she can be seen in magazines and on billboards all around the world. Chris has custody of her 14-year-old sister Kathy (Mariel Hemingway), as their parents were killed in a car crash. They share an apartment, and Kathy attends a Catholic private school. Gordon Stuart (Chris Sarandon), a part-time composer and full-time music teacher at the school, who Kathy has a crush on, eagerly accepts Kathy's invitation to come to a secluded beachside photo shoot, because Kathy wants Chris to listen to one of his somewhat avant garde musical compositions. The shoot runs longer than expected, so Chris doesn't have a chance to hear it, but arrangements are made for Gordon to stop by the apartment the next day to play it for her. The next day, Gordon arrives at the apartment at the time that Chris mentioned, but Chris has forgotten about the invitation, and that causes her to greet him fresh out of the shower, dressed in nothing but a robe. Gordon obviously hopes that if she likes his music, she might be able to use some of her musical connections to help him. Chris politely sits down as he plays her a tape of one of his compositions. What she hears is a pretentious and ear-splitting combination of bird calls and electronic synthesizer notes, but she smiles as it plays, and pretends to appreciate it. A phone call from Chris's boyfriend, Steve Edison (Perry King), thankfully interrupts them and allows her to escape to her room, away from the noise, and the very creepy Gordon. As Chris talks to Steve, Gordon begins to fume at the thought of Chris's obvious rejection, and her apparent apathy toward his music. His hurt soon turns to rage. Gordon enters her room, and smashes a picture of her brother Martin McCormick (John Bennett Perry), who is a priest, and he hits Chris, before throwing himself on top of her. During Chris's struggle to fight him off, Gordon slams her head against one of her bedposts, and he yells at her to show him where she keeps the lipstick that her face sells to the public. When Chris tells him it's in her bathroom, he takes her in there, and smears it across her face, and then forces her to perform fellatio on him to leave the traces of the lipstick on him. Returning her to her bed, Gordon throws her naked across the bed, ties her down, spread-eagle, with silk scarves, and anally rapes her, to the accompaniment of his compositions. Toward the end of the rape, Chris has stopped struggling, just wanting it to end. When Kathy arrives home from school, she enters the apartment,and hears nothing amiss. Kathy walks into Chris's bedroom via a connecting balcony and sees the scene, but she does not realize that Chris is being forced against her will, so Kathy, hurt and embarrassed, leaves quietly, shutting the patio door behind her. Chris hears the patio door shut, and she realizes that Kathy must be home, and she begs Gordon to release her. After cruelly suggesting calling Kathy in to join them and "Have some fun," Gordon frees Chris, noting that Kathy must think "her sister just made it with her favorite teacher." Gordon leaves, and a crying Chris stumbles to Kathy, who realizes that something is wrong, as Chris tells her what really happened. Chris calls the police. The police arrive and gather evidence, while Chris talks to a rape-crisis counselor. Later that night, the police pick up Gordon, and take him to jail. A few days later, Chris, Steve, and Martin meet with district attorney Carla Bondi (Anne Bancroft). Carla warns Chris that getting a conviction under the circumstances is hardly a sure thing, as she invited Gordon to her apartment. Steve also has his doubts about pressing charges, as he fears that it might damage Chris's career. Chris makes it clear that she wants Gordon to be put away. But if Chris wants justice, she'll have to testify, and that could mean subjecting herself to a kind of abuse that's just as horrible as the rape itself. Gordon's sleazy attorney, Nathan Cartright (Robin Gammell), does everything he can to raise doubt in the jury's mind about it being non-consensual. Cartright argues that the sex was consensual, and that its roughness was the result of Chris's own twisted desires, and not Gordon's, even bringing in Chris's sexy pictures from the photo shoot in an attempt to damage her reputation. Cartright suggests that even if Gordon acted without Chris's consent, she provoked him by appearing naked in front of him at the photo shoot where they first met, and by the inherent sensuality of the photographs from which she makes her living. Chris testifies passionately, informing everyone in the room that "I want him to die in jail! I want them to do it to HIM in jail!" But it's Kathy's testimony that ends up helping Gordon: despite Kathy's protests that she believes Chris's story, Kathy's failure to call the police after seeing them together in the bedroom is seen as a clear indication that Kathy did not think, at the time, that Chris was getting raped. To Chris's enormous shock, the jury stupidly buys Cartright's so-called "logic," and acquits Gordon. A traumatized Chris tries to go back to work, but it's clear that she can't focus her attention on her modeling. Chris learns that Steve, who works for the cosmetics company that she poses for, has decided to "cool down" their ad campaign, meaning that she has been abandoned by Steve, and the lipstick company has decided to suspend her contract. Kathy switches schools, as it looks like Gordon will get his old job back. Not knowing what else to do, Chris decides to move to Colorado with Kathy as soon she finishes what is to be her last photo shoot, which is at a partially completed mall complex. But, by a terrible coincidence, the Catholic school is using the same building that Chris's photoshoot is in to rehearse a new ballet being orchestrated by Gordon. As Chris poses in a red sequined gown that she calls "the most beautiful dress I think I've ever had on," Kathy is watching Chris at the shoot, and Kathy gets bored. Kathy starts exploring the empty mall, and stumbles across Gordon and some of her former classmates. When the classmates leave, Gordon sees Kathy, and invites her to help him with the final mixing of his composition. A part of Kathy, blinded by her crush on Gordon, believes that Gordon is innocent of what Chris accused him of, but Kathy is about to learn the truth, in the most horrible way. Kathy approaches, and lets Gordon place a contact microphone on her chest to record her heartbeat to add to the music. We hear Kathy's heartbeat suddenly speed up as Kathy realizes that Gordon is making sexual advances toward her, and she realizes that Gordon did rape Chris. Kathy runs, and Gordon chases her through the empty mall, until he grabs her in a sub-basement tunnel, and he starts tearing her clothes off. After Gordon is done with her, Kathy stumbles to the part of the mall where the photo shoot is going on. She's crying, and her clothes are torn. Chris asks Kathy what happened. At first, Kathy tells her nothing, and then Kathy admits that she ran into Gordon, and he raped her. Chris, understandably enraged, races to the window, and she sees Gordon leaving the building. Knowing that it's been proven that she absolutely cannot trust the system to do what's right, Chris -- still wearing the red gown -- runs outside to her truck, and grabs a pump-action shotgun that she had intended to take to Colorado with her. Chris spots Gordon driving his car in the parking lot, and she fires at it. Gordon is hit. He tries running Chris over, but his car swerves, and overturns on its side. With difficulty, Gordon starts climbing out of the car, and Chris blasts him in his chest, shoulder, and stomach with the shotgun. Gordon falls out of the car. Chris moves closer to Gordon. Convulsing with pain, Gordon tries hard to get up, but Chris shoots him in the genitals. Chris is so overcome with understandable rage that she keeps trying to pull the trigger, even after she has killed Gordon and run out of shotgun shells, while being haunted by the memories of her rape. Within seconds, the police arrive and cold-bloodedly arrest Chris, who is in a trauma-induced state of shock. As the camera pulls away from the scene we hear Carla, who has apparently left the D.A.'s office to defend Chris, speaking to a jury, telling them that Gordon's acquittal had resulted in Chris completely, and understandably, losing her faith in the system. Carla tells the jury that, in order for the system to not appear as appallingly incompetent as it actually is, justice can only be served if they acquit Chris. Presumably, the jury finds Chris not guilty.
Lipstick
Crime,Drama,Thriller
Film Details
21-year-old Christine "Chris" McCormick (Margaux Hemingway) is a highly paid fashion model whose image serves as the driving force of the ad campaign for a popular brand of lipstick, and she can be seen in magazines and on billboards all around the world. Chris has custody of her 14-year-old sister Kathy (Mariel Hemingway), as their parents were killed in a car crash. They share an apartment, and Kathy attends a Catholic private school.
Gordon Stuart (Chris Sarandon), a part-time composer and full-time music teacher at the school, who Kathy has a crush on, eagerly accepts Kathy's invitation to come to a secluded beachside photo shoot, because Kathy wants Chris to listen to one of his somewhat avant garde musical compositions. The shoot runs longer than expected, so Chris doesn't have a chance to hear it, but arrangements are made for Gordon to stop by the apartment the next day to play it for her. The next day, Gordon arrives at the apartment at the time that Chris mentioned, but Chris has forgotten about the invitation, and that causes her to greet him fresh out of the shower, dressed in nothing but a robe.
Gordon obviously hopes that if she likes his music, she might be able to use some of her musical connections to help him. Chris politely sits down as he plays her a tape of one of his compositions. What she hears is a pretentious and ear-splitting combination of bird calls and electronic synthesizer notes, but she smiles as it plays, and pretends to appreciate it.
A phone call from Chris's boyfriend, Steve Edison (Perry King), thankfully interrupts them and allows her to escape to her room, away from the noise, and the very creepy Gordon. As Chris talks to Steve, Gordon begins to fume at the thought of Chris's obvious rejection, and her apparent apathy toward his music. His hurt soon turns to rage.
Gordon enters her room, and smashes a picture of her brother Martin McCormick (John Bennett Perry), who is a priest, and he hits Chris, before throwing himself on top of her. During Chris's struggle to fight him off, Gordon slams her head against one of her bedposts, and he yells at her to show him where she keeps the lipstick that her face sells to the public. When Chris tells him it's in her bathroom, he takes her in there, and smears it across her face, and then forces her to perform fellatio on him to leave the traces of the lipstick on him.
Returning her to her bed, Gordon throws her naked across the bed, ties her down, spread-eagle, with silk scarves, and anally rapes her, to the accompaniment of his compositions. Toward the end of the rape, Chris has stopped struggling, just wanting it to end. When Kathy arrives home from school, she enters the apartment,and hears nothing amiss.
Kathy walks into Chris's bedroom via a connecting balcony and sees the scene, but she does not realize that Chris is being forced against her will, so Kathy, hurt and embarrassed, leaves quietly, shutting the patio door behind her. Chris hears the patio door shut, and she realizes that Kathy must be home, and she begs Gordon to release her. After cruelly suggesting calling Kathy in to join them and "Have some fun," Gordon frees Chris, noting that Kathy must think "her sister just made it with her favorite teacher." Gordon leaves, and a crying Chris stumbles to Kathy, who realizes that something is wrong, as Chris tells her what really happened.
Chris calls the police. The police arrive and gather evidence, while Chris talks to a rape-crisis counselor. Later that night, the police pick up Gordon, and take him to jail.
A few days later, Chris, Steve, and Martin meet with district attorney Carla Bondi (Anne Bancroft). Carla warns Chris that getting a conviction under the circumstances is hardly a sure thing, as she invited Gordon to her apartment. Steve also has his doubts about pressing charges, as he fears that it might damage Chris's career.
Chris makes it clear that she wants Gordon to be put away. But if Chris wants justice, she'll have to testify, and that could mean subjecting herself to a kind of abuse that's just as horrible as the rape itself. Gordon's sleazy attorney, Nathan Cartright (Robin Gammell), does everything he can to raise doubt in the jury's mind about it being non-consensual.
Cartright argues that the sex was consensual, and that its roughness was the result of Chris's own twisted desires, and not Gordon's, even bringing in Chris's sexy pictures from the photo shoot in an attempt to damage her reputation. Cartright suggests that even if Gordon acted without Chris's consent, she provoked him by appearing naked in front of him at the photo shoot where they first met, and by the inherent sensuality of the photographs from which she makes her living. Chris testifies passionately, informing everyone in the room that "I want him to die in jail! I want them to do it to HIM in jail!" But it's Kathy's testimony that ends up helping Gordon: despite Kathy's protests that she believes Chris's story, Kathy's failure to call the police after seeing them together in the bedroom is seen as a clear indication that Kathy did not think, at the time, that Chris was getting raped.
To Chris's enormous shock, the jury stupidly buys Cartright's so-called "logic," and acquits Gordon. A traumatized Chris tries to go back to work, but it's clear that she can't focus her attention on her modeling. Chris learns that Steve, who works for the cosmetics company that she poses for, has decided to "cool down" their ad campaign, meaning that she has been abandoned by Steve, and the lipstick company has decided to suspend her contract.
Kathy switches schools, as it looks like Gordon will get his old job back. Not knowing what else to do, Chris decides to move to Colorado with Kathy as soon she finishes what is to be her last photo shoot, which is at a partially completed mall complex. But, by a terrible coincidence, the Catholic school is using the same building that Chris's photoshoot is in to rehearse a new ballet being orchestrated by Gordon.
As Chris poses in a red sequined gown that she calls "the most beautiful dress I think I've ever had on," Kathy is watching Chris at the shoot, and Kathy gets bored. Kathy starts exploring the empty mall, and stumbles across Gordon and some of her former classmates. When the classmates leave, Gordon sees Kathy, and invites her to help him with the final mixing of his composition.
A part of Kathy, blinded by her crush on Gordon, believes that Gordon is innocent of what Chris accused him of, but Kathy is about to learn the truth, in the most horrible way. Kathy approaches, and lets Gordon place a contact microphone on her chest to record her heartbeat to add to the music. We hear Kathy's heartbeat suddenly speed up as Kathy realizes that Gordon is making sexual advances toward her, and she realizes that Gordon did rape Chris.
Kathy runs, and Gordon chases her through the empty mall, until he grabs her in a sub-basement tunnel, and he starts tearing her clothes off. After Gordon is done with her, Kathy stumbles to the part of the mall where the photo shoot is going on. She's crying, and her clothes are torn.
Chris asks Kathy what happened. At first, Kathy tells her nothing, and then Kathy admits that she ran into Gordon, and he raped her. Chris, understandably enraged, races to the window, and she sees Gordon leaving the building.
Knowing that it's been proven that she absolutely cannot trust the system to do what's right, Chris -- still wearing the red gown -- runs outside to her truck, and grabs a pump-action shotgun that she had intended to take to Colorado with her. Chris spots Gordon driving his car in the parking lot, and she fires at it. Gordon is hit.
He tries running Chris over, but his car swerves, and overturns on its side. With difficulty, Gordon starts climbing out of the car, and Chris blasts him in his chest, shoulder, and stomach with the shotgun. Gordon falls out of the car.
Chris moves closer to Gordon. Convulsing with pain, Gordon tries hard to get up, but Chris shoots him in the genitals. Chris is so overcome with understandable rage that she keeps trying to pull the trigger, even after she has killed Gordon and run out of shotgun shells, while being haunted by the memories of her rape.
Within seconds, the police arrive and cold-bloodedly arrest Chris, who is in a trauma-induced state of shock. As the camera pulls away from the scene we hear Carla, who has apparently left the D.A.'s office to defend Chris, speaking to a jury, telling them that Gordon's acquittal had resulted in Chris completely, and understandably, losing her faith in the system. Carla tells the jury that, in order for the system to not appear as appallingly incompetent as it actually is, justice can only be served if they acquit Chris.
Presumably, the jury finds Chris not guilty..