Alfred Kinsey was a target for protest and attack throughout much of his life, and now the film dramatizing his studies is receiving protests of its own. At issue is the film’s portrayal of Kinsey, which many who haven’t even seen the film claim glamorizes a man responsible for the moral decay of our society. Through his groundbreaking studies on human sexuality in the forties, Professor Alfred Kinsey ripped the lid off what people want to think we’re all like in bed to reveal what sort of people we really are in the sack. His results are irrefutable, yet six decades later some people still can’t handle the truth. Kinsey isn’t just about the man, it’s a movie about sex, the only thing more controversial than movies about beating Jesus. This is somewhat baffling, since sex is a lot more fun.

Professor Kinsey (Liam Neeson), affectionately called “Prok” by his students, is a respected scientist and intellectual. His scientific career begins in a studious obsession with Gall Wasps, and Kinsey spends a lot of its first half hour following Alfred while he stares at insects. The film could have bogged down and lost the audience right there, had director Bill Condon not had the good sense to intersperse that section of the movie with black and white flash forwards in which Kinsey and his staff prepare their infamous sex survey. Doing so sets the tone for the film, prepares the audience for the heavier stuff which is to come, and provides a fair amount of plot-moving comedy relief to break up Kinsey’s early life obsession with bug mating habits.

Prok gets married, and in an intentionally awkward, open, and groping scene he and his wife (Laura Linney) discover on their wedding night that not only do they not know what they’re doing, but there’s nowhere for them to turn to figure out just how to do it. Prok finishes his study on Gall Wasps and takes a new position coordinating what he hopes will be an updated and practical marriage course at Indiana University. The more he studies, the more he begins to realize that the gap between what we think people do sexually and what they actually do is enormous. In response, Kinsey crafts a survey to find out the truth, beginning his study of human sexuality with the support of the University and other financial backers.

Together with his wife and a group of carefully trained researchers, Kinsey begins surveying as many people as possible. Soon, his study of the sexuality of others turns into a study of himself as well. Kinsey makes mistakes which hurt his friends, and his family, but that never dulls the importance of what he’s attempting in the face of adversity. Neeson is wonderful as Kinsey, creating a character of impatience, passion, and quietly hidden fragility. Laura Linney delivers a standout piece of work as Kinsey’s strong, loving, and progressive minded wife, while Peter Sarsgaard bares it all in the name of science.

Director Bill Condon has created an adult, frank, masterpiece unafraid to stand out and tackle a touchy topic with deft sincerity. Make no mistake, this is a movie for the mature and open-minded only. Condon isn’t catering to a religious majority, nor is he pushing some sort of anti-morals agenda. He’s created a factual biopic that’s something much more than a simple biography. Often, attempts to bring the life of real historical figures to the screen come out like Ray, filled with great actors giving great performances, but otherwise empty, perfunctory stories. Condon lifts his film beyond that by mixing strong social context with a surprisingly well-tuned sense of humor. The laughter keeps his film from becoming too preachy, and his candor about Kinsey’s failings crushes any claims of partiality.

Kinsey is one of the best movies of the year. It’s smart, sophisticated, and sometimes brutally honest. Neeson’s work as Alfred Kinsey is nothing short of spectacular and unless the Oscar voters out there have gotten too puritanical to see past the end of their noses he’ll be getting some heavy awards consideration. This isn’t a movie with an agenda; it isn’t trying to tear apart the moral fiber of our society any more than Kinsey himself was. Like Kinsey, the picture is simply trying to tell the truth. In doing so it creates a dramatic masterpiece with Kinsey as a sympathetic, flawed, damaged genius obsessively trying to open a resistant world’s eyes to reality. Through his work, the man helped people. It’s dismaying to see so many still trying to stick their heads in the sand today, or worse force all of us to stick our heads in the sand right along with them.