The film centers on Violet (Tilly), a gun moll who longs to escape her relationship with her mobster boyfriend Caesar (Pantoliano), enters into a clandestine affair with alluring ex-con Corky (Gershon), and the two women hatch a scheme to steal $2 million of Mafia money.
This was also John P. Ryan's final appearance before he died in 2007 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.
Knowing that Caesar will bring the nearly $2 million that Shelly skimmed back to the apartment, the two women hatch a scheme to steal the money.
Johnnie, the son of Mafia boss Gino Marzzone, kills Shelly, angering Caesar, who returns to the apartment with a bag of bloody money.
While he does, Violet will purposely drop a bottle of Glenlivet scotch that Gino prefers and tell Caesar that she is going to buy more.
Panicking, Violet threatens to leave, but Caesar forces her to stay, suspecting she and Johnnie may have stolen the money and framed him.
After Johnnie flirts with Violet and taunts him, Caesar pulls out a gun and tells Gino that his son stole the money.
Caesar tells Violet that they must find the money, dispose of the bodies and pretend Gino and Johnnie never arrived lest their mob associates discover their absence.
Unable to find the money at Johnnie's apartment, Caesar telephones Mickey, a mob buddy, telling him that Gino has yet to arrive.
[15] Another is the repeated use of water as a symbolic motif to represent women, present for example when Corky is retrieving Violet's earring from the sink.
Jennifer Tilly says that whenever Violet is talking to men, her voice becomes high-pitched and "girly"—making her seem vulnerable and ensuring she is taken care of.
[15] Film producer Joel Silver has said that after working as scriptwriters on Assassins, the Wachowskis made Bound as an "audition piece" to prove that they knew what to do on a movie set.
[3][17] Seeing film noir as a genre within which they could tell a contained story and twist conventions, they described Billy Wilder as a big influence.
[17] When executives at some studios read the script, they told the Wachowskis that if they changed the character of Corky to that of a man, they would be interested.
[14][15] The Wachowskis' original director of photography resigned, claiming that he could not film with the limited budget available, nor did he know anyone else who would be willing to work so cheaply.
Subsequently, cinematographer Bill Pope was hired, who knew "a bunch of cheap guys" who would be willing to work within the budget.
He and the Wachowskis drew inspiration from their love of comics and were particularly influenced by Frank Miller's neo-noir Sin City series.
[15] The Wachowskis asked Joe Pantoliano to watch John Huston's The Treasure of the Sierra Madre and to focus on Humphrey Bogart's character in order to portray Caesar's paranoia.
Barry Kivel was injured, when his head was banged against a toilet, in the scene where Shelly was violently beaten in Caesar's bathroom.
In a scene between Corky and Caesar, near the end of the film, Gershon struck a gun from Pantoliano's hand so violently she required stitches.
Comedian Margaret Smith played Jesse's girlfriend and the extras in the bar scene were Bright's friends—"real life San Francisco dykes".
Bound was rated by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) as R for "strong sexuality, violence and language."
The site's consensus reads: "Bound's more titillating elements attracted attention, but it's the stylish direction, solid performances, and entertaining neo-noir caper plot that make it worth a watch".
[6] Marjorie Baumgarten writing for The Austin Chronicle called it an impressive debut saying that the Wachowskis have "style to burn".
[31] Jonathan Rosenbaum for the Chicago Reader called it a "welcome change" to have a lesbian couple as the main characters in a mainstream film.
[43] Sarah Warn for AfterEllen.com called Corky "the closest thing to a realistic and sympathetic butch lesbian we've seen in a mainstream movie".
[41] Barry Walters for the San Francisco Chronicle praised the film for showing gay characters that have an active sex life.
[50] It was released on Region 2 DVD on August 25, 2003, by Pathé featuring original theatrical trailers, audio commentary by the directors and stars, cast and crew biographies and a production featurette.