Bound is a 1996 American neo-noir crime thriller film written and directed by the Wachowskis in their feature film directorial debut. Violet (Jennifer Tilly), who longs to escape her relationship with her mafioso boyfriend Caesar (Joe Pantoliano), enters into a clandestine affair with alluring ex-con Corky (Gina Gershon), and the two women hatch a scheme to steal $2 million of Mafia money. Bound was the first film directed by the Wachowskis, and they took inspiration from Billy Wilder to tell a noir story filled with sex and violence. Financed by Dino De Laurentiis, the film was made on a tight budget with the help of frugal crew members including cinematographer Bill Pope. The directors initially struggled to cast the lesbian characters of Violet and Corky before securing Tilly and Gershon. To choreograph the sex scenes, the directors employed sex educator Susie Bright as an ad hoc intimacy coordinator, and she also made a cameo appearance in the film. Bound received positive reviews from film critics who praised the humor and style of the directors as well as the realistic portrayal of a lesbian relationship in a mainstream film. Detractors of the film found its plot superficial and criticized the violence as excessive. The film won several festival awards. Plot Corky, a lesbian ex-con, is hired as a painter and plumber at an apartment building. She encounters Violet and Caesar, the couple who live next-door to the apartment she is renovating. While Caesar is gone, Violet deliberately drops an earring down the sink; the building owner sends Corky to retrieve it. Violet admits to purposely dropping the earring and starts to seduce Corky. They are interrupted by Caesar's arrival and Corky returns to work. When she leaves for the day, Violet follows her to her truck, and they have sex in Corky's apartment. The next morning, Violet tells Corky that Caesar is a money launderer for the Mafia and they have been together for five years. Later, Violet overhears Caesar and his mob associates beating and torturing Shelly, a man who has been skimming money from the business. Upset by the violence, Violet confides to Corky that she wants to make a new life for herself, but that she needs her help. Knowing that Caesar will bring the nearly $2 million that Shelly embezzled back to the apartment, the two women hatch a scheme to steal the money. After Mafia boss