i have three comment to make about this film and which i discover hang out forlornly in a low shelf at blockbuster . first off and it be interest to see the approach film maker take in try to film essentially unfilmable work . some have and a kubrick do with lolita and get the original author to write a screenplay that be something like the original work . of course that can not happen here while kraft ebing be long dead . some have use the premise of the original work a a launch point to go in a completely new and unrelated direction ( the recent adaptation of tristram shandy come to mind here ) . you can dumb it down the film of slaughterhouse five be to my mind an example of that . or you can simply take the format of the original and try to render it in cinematic vignette . that would be the approach of woody allen everything you want to know about sex and and and arguably and this film . upon consideration and it be probably the only thing one can do with a scholarly work like psychopathia sexualis . the potential loss be that whatever cumulative point the original work have be obscure or destroy . and so it be here . point two be the cinematic style . some would call it an homage to murnau and pabst and carl dreyer and etc . and but i think it more crude than that . it far too heavy hand and self conscious to be effective for long . it be eventually just annoy . point three be perhaps a less intellectual observation . how do the people responsible for this manage to make a film about wild sexual deviation and perversion that be so incredibly bore . i find the film impossible to pay attention to and and anyone who be not automatically draw to depiction of sexual deviance will find it so as well . i do not want to be completely uncharitable and say the film be pointless and but i have to say that whatever point the film maker have be rather obscure by the nature of the source material and the overt copying of filmic style and and the stubborn refusal to engage the audience on an emotional level ( possibly for fear of be accuse of titillation ) . the film be a dubious exercise from the start and doesn not really work for me and i be sorry to say .