Boxing Helena is a 1993 American Avant-garde thriller film directed by Jennifer Lynch and starring Sherilyn Fenn, Julian Sands, and Bill Paxton. Before its release, the film's production was hampered by legal battles with Madonna and Kim Basinger, who both backed out of playing Helena. The film debuted at the Sundance Film Festival in January 1993, where it was received poorly. After receiving an NC-17 rating from the MPAA, the film was given an R rating on appeal and released in the United States in September 1993. It was a critical and financial failure.

Plot

Nick Cavanaugh, an Atlanta surgeon, begins moving into his recently deceased mother's lavish home with his girlfriend, Anne. However, he remains fixated on Helena—a beautiful but shrewish woman with whom he had one intimate experience— although she harbors disdain for him. Nick and Anne host a housewarming party and Nick invites Helena, who leaves early with a friend and co-worker of Nick's, much to his shock. Anne leaves Nick after realizing his obsession with Helena. Helena forgets her address book at Nick's house and the next day reluctantly agrees to return to retrieve it. After Helena suffers a high-grade tibial fracture in a hit-and-run motor vehicle collision as she attempts to leave on foot, Nick kidnaps her and covertly provides her with illicit medical care in the confines of his home. He goes to the extreme of amputating both her legs above the knee and torturing her in an attempt to control her. Later, following her attempt to choke him, Nick goes even further by amputating her arms above the elbow.