Sex and love. Some seek it, some need it, some spurn it and some pay for it, but we’re all involved in it. Set on one afternoon on Hampstead Heath, London, the film investigates the minutiae of seven couples. The film is a comedic and erotically charged look at what makes us tick, and it seems that what makes us tick is complex, dark and ludicrously funny.
Price: $24.99
Shame on the reviewer for not writing Spoiler Alert in one review! Most others are solid critique.
I am only adding this bit because I have seen the film twice and now find I want it in my collection. In the second viewing I found subtlties I missed on first viewing. I appreciated the depth of the characters. I noted that the "strange" exchange between Anna and Noel was made much more comprehensible when I figured out the final scene, which is run through the credits, so don't turn it off too soon! Tom Hardy -- does he do anything poorly? -- and his canine pal made me burst out laughing.
I loved the way the vignettes are unpredictable -- and unforgettable. This is a delightful film appreciable on many levels. Got to have it in my collection. BTW, does anyone know if the film earned any awards?
-- Subtle delight
I saw this on Shotime and bought it to show my wife. I don't usually buy DVD's. -- Tickle yourself by watching this.
On a lovely day in Hampstead Heath, seven couples explore their relationships, find love, break up, and come to a crossroads. Most of the seven stories are not intertwined, except for a few parting glances here or there, and one man who is desperately looking to couple up with a woman for the day.
The good: I loved the story between Pete and Sara, who I thought were a lovely as husband and wife, and then realized that they were there to share the joint custody of their child, each clutching their divorce papers in hand. It appears that they still love each other, but something is not...right.
I also enjoyed the scenes between Brian and Billy (played by Ewan McGregor) a couple who are grappling with the decision to adopt a child, when Billy is having a hard time growing up.
Ludo and Esther also gave good performances. If I hadn't read the blurb on the back of the DVD cover, I would have thought that this duo had been together for years and very happy, but this one had a little shock and surprise at the end.
The bad: Eddie and Iris's story had captured me at first. Two old friends meeting 40-50 years later, on the same bench they frequented when they were 17, as they were once in love. Something lost me in the middle when it could have been very romantic.
Molly and Jamie were featured in the first story, a happily married unit, whose relaxing day is ruined when Jamie spends a little too much time staring a French girl, whose underwear is showing. He then makes up this convoluted story about how he once read the same book she's reading and tells his wife what it's about, etc. She then sees through the falsehood, then goes to the French girl to catch her husband in a lie. I guess it could have been a good story, but something felt a little too contrived about it.
The story with Julia and Gerry starts out well as a couple on a clumsy and awkward blind date. As they misunderstand each other less, and start to like each other more, one silly glance at someone else, sends the other into a flurry. It just didn't seem finished and it was a little too abrupt.
The strange: Anna and Noel meet after she's had a fight with her boyfriend, and they break up. What occurs then is a back and forth conversation about what is going to happen next. One of them seems crazy, and the other desperate.
As in many movies or books that have several different stories with many characters, you can't always expect to connect with all of them. Unfortunately, the number that I connected with was smaller than those that I did. This would be a good film to watch if you do not need a lot of action, but want to be reminded of the interconnectedness of people, and view all of their idiosyncracies. Also, you can never go wrong with London. -- Seven short stories against a beautiful backdrop...
An enjoyable, thought-provoking set of stories that flow at a brisk pace, "Scenes of a Sexual Nature" sports a nifty set of windowpanes to the human condition, in particular what drives romantic relationships.
Set entirely within London's pristine Hampstead Heath, a vast, pristine forest and parkland, this edgy collaboration between first-time writer Aschlin Ditta and producer/director Ed Blum has a distinct, raw flavor. With above-average actors and Ditta's candid dialogue, the film feels consistently fresh and rarely forced with a wry, witty classical soundtrack by Dominik Scherrer to underscore the proceedings.
An accent or two sounds a little shaky, and the PC card may be pushed a tad too self-consciously (three mixed-race and one gay couple are involved), but this pays no ultimate disserve to the film's overall effect. Whether it is an awkward blind date, the prospect of adoption or a newly divorced couple happy to be simply acquaintances, each situation is treated with equal attention, poetically weaving into the next. Some elements veer toward the unrealistic (the divorced couple walking in arm in arm, for one), providing only a minor drawback.
The most enjoyable pairing is that of illustrious actors Benjamin Whitrow and Eileen Akins as a long-separated couple reunited by chance, both with the same bench, with its glorious view of the London skyline, as their destination. Since 50 years have passed since lighter days when they were 17, both initially fail to recognize each other but soon gasp in wonderment. Both married and loved their partners, but always wondered what became of each other. Together, they scale the rolling hill off in the distance, something they've both longed for but never attempted.
"After finally climbing this infernal hill after all those years of thinking about it, what you're saying is, `the view is better from where we were?'" she asks him once they've reached the top.
"Well, on reflection, yes," he replies.
"I think you're right," she agrees. It may not be as high, but it did seem clearer."
Moments like these give the film a lyrical panache. Similar impact occurs when Billy, the philandering half of a gay couple played by Ewan McGregor, vows to change his ways should his partner Brian, played by Douglas Hodge, consent to adopt.
"There's still a problem," says Brian, clearly desperate for Billy's commitment. "I don't want kids. I just want you."
Mark Strong and Polly Walker also resonate deeply as a couple with an unconventional means of attraction, as do Hugh Bonneville and Gina McKee as a socially inept duo set up on a date by a mutual friend. Oscar-nominee Sophie Okonedo also shines in her brief but colorful part as a young woman with unbelievable mood swings who hands her pursuer, played by Tom Hardy, more than he bargained for.
An ideal date film, atypical in that it can speak equally to both men and women, "Scenes From a Sexual Nature" is a picturesque, stimulating flick as well as the cinematic debut of a screenwriting talent with loads of potential. -- Windowpanes To the Human Condition
"Scenes of a Sexual Nature"
Sex and Love, Love and Sex
Amos Lassen
Some seek sex and love while others need it. Some avoid it while others pay for it. It is, nevertheless, an integral part of our lives. Seven couples are investigated in this film as "Scenes of a Sexual Nature" looks at the way we live. It's a simple plot--people who have fallen in love, are in love, or need to be in love happen to all be on Hampstead Heath one afternoon.
"Scenes of a Sexual Nature" is touching, funny and entertaining. It is also intelligent and subtle with wonderful acting and excellent cinematography. Not a lot happens in the film and therefore the pace is slow but not tedious. It examines the different kids of relationships with a sense of tenderness, wit and intelligence. What is most interesting is the way it looks at the small things in relationships and it is these that give meaning. Relationships may succeed or fail because of the small things. Big issues can be worked at, while the small things either or accepted or fester.
The film is beautifully made and it is original, simple and easy to view. I found it to be thought provoking as it sums up the desires, hatreds, beliefs and knowledge of many of us. It is an endearing film because of its simplicity and makes us really believe that we are part of the lives of the people on the screen, if only for a short time. It is about people and this is what it concentrates on. The movie is like a book of short stories and as we can flesh out characters in them, so can we in the film.
There are many actors in the film but the star is Hampstead Heath. It is a series of snapshots of London all taken at the heath, a place known for sexual adventure. For the gay population, the gay couple speaks a great deal of the issues of the day and does not hold back. As they talk about their life together, we get a look at the idea of what monogamy is to them and the issue of adoption is also raised. What happens between the two men reinforces the stereotype that gay men are promiscuous if the opportunity presents itself.
Even if the reinforcement of this stereotype is abhorrent to many of us, this is a film that should be seen.
-- Sex and Love, Love and Sex
