Hideous Kinky

R

Released Apr 26, 1998

1 hr. 37 min.

Drama

List

66%

53 Reviews

Tomatometer

60%

5,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

Unsatisfied with her life in England, young mother Julia (Kate Winslet) relocates to Morocco with her small daughters, Lucy (Carrie Mullan) and Bea (Bella Riza). Although the family enjoys various adventures, they struggle to make ends meet. As their carefree mother relies on good fortune and new boyfriends for financial support, the girls find surrogate father figures in the kindly con artist Bilal (Saïd Taghmaoui) and the dapper European Santoni (Pierre Clémenti).

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Audience Member

Kate Winslet is very good here being a mother with two daughters in a foreign land abandoning her English privileged idealism With the prospect of no money and no husband she makes her way as best she can in Marrakesh 1972 finding some spiritual enlightenment Beautiful scenery and a worthy performance by Winslet herself makes a very uncompromising impression

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

04/16/24

Full Review

Audience Member

The only reason for one and a half stars was the fact that Kate Winslet starred in it!!!

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

01/28/23

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Terry R

It could have been; truly, it should have been ... but alas, it just wasn't. Sigh. Definitely needs a new director! Kate's good, girls are good, men are good, location is good, story is good --- to make it great would require more than this director had it in him. Or her. What a shame, too.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

09/30/16

Full Review

Frances H

Interesting and well acted. Both of the children in particular, were very appealing. Haven't read the Esther Freud book, but just may, after seeing this film.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

11/21/14

Full Review

Audience Member

bleh. turned it off half way thru

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

02/04/23

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Audience Member

First and foremost, the movie has nothing to do with its name. It is based on Esther Freud's novel of the same name. It's a simple and nice partial journey of a hippie (by heart) English woman along with her two kid daughters. And this journey of hers is solo and not in a group or caravan. She is a gypsy by heart who is absolutely untouched by money and grandeur. What she seeks for her daughters and herself is the true meaning of life and the opportunity to live life as it is intended to be lived i.e. with the soul. Morocco as the movie background serves as a good setting for such a storyline. Kate with her divine face has acted well. Actually it does not feel that she is acting at all. Maybe somewhere she believes in the character. An interesting study that you find in the movie is the impact of a hippie lifestyle on the children. It is amusing to see the elder daughter argue with her mother (the protagonist) to get her admitted to school in spite of her mother's nonchalance to do the same! The movie clearly shows the ease with which they adapt to any new environment, get attached to people, provide and seek assistance at the drop of a hat and are at absolute ease without any money! All in all, it is an interesting movie to watch if you wish to understand the actions and reactions of a gypsy soul.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/02/23

Full Review

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Gillies MacKinnon

Director

Kate Winslet

Julia

Said Taghmaoui

Bilal

Bella Riza

Bea

Carrie Mullan

Lucy

Pierre Clémenti

Santoni

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Lisa Alspector

Chicago Reader

The fusion of dream sequences and evocative landscapes makes the characters' feverish sense of living at the edge of reality contagious.

Apr 27, 2012

Full Review

Lisa Schwarzbaum

Entertainment Weekly

Kate Winslet, luscious in a brilliantly colored caftan and flushed from the heat of an African sun, makes a beautiful hippie, circa 1972, in Hideous Kinky.

Rated: B

Sep 7, 2011

Full Review

Lisa Nesselson

Variety

Kate Winslet continues an uninterrupted line of fine performances with the modest yet affecting Hideous Kinky.

Mar 26, 2009

Full Review

George Fenwick

Stuff.co.nz

Winslet is unsurprisingly astounding in the role, which takes an interesting look at the often-privileged idealism of English people who sought enlightenment in so-called "exotic" places.

Aug 27, 2021

Full Review

Maitland McDonagh

TV Guide

The film's gradual slide into a darker vision of the casual selfishness and presumption that often lay at the heart of Westerners' mind-bending journeys to the East is subtle and quietly devastating.

Rated: 3/4

Apr 27, 2012

Full Review

Film4

It presents a dull life amid colourful surroundings.

Apr 27, 2012

Full Review

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Synopsis

Unsatisfied with her life in England, young mother Julia (Kate Winslet) relocates to Morocco with her small daughters, Lucy (Carrie Mullan) and Bea (Bella Riza). Although the family enjoys various adventures, they struggle to make ends meet. As their carefree mother relies on good fortune and new boyfriends for financial support, the girls find surrogate father figures in the kindly con artist Bilal (Saïd Taghmaoui) and the dapper European Santoni (Pierre Clémenti).

Director: Gillies MacKinnon
Executive Producer: Simon Relph, Mark Shivas
Screenwriter: Esther Freud, Billy MacKinnon
Distributor: Stratosphere Entertainment
Production Co: Greenpoint Films, Film Consortium, L Films
Rating: R (Language|Some Sexuality)
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Apr 26, 1998, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Mar 10, 2017
Sound Mix: Dolby Stereo, Dolby Digital, Dolby A, Surround, Dolby SR
Aspect Ratio: Scope (2.35:1)

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