... for Catherine Breillat
a film review by R. W. Gordon

"Sex is Everything..." is a review of Catherine Breillat's 2002 film Sex is Comedy following its screening at the 2003 Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF). Considered a companion piece to his article concerning the censoring of Breillat's '99 film, Romance, the review compliments the original piece and illuminates the themes instigated in both the work of Breillat and his analysis.

With film censorship the issue of debate in Australia it was with glee that I attended Catherine Breillat's latest cinematic offering. The decision to ban her ‘99 film Romance highlighted the absurdities in our censorship regulations and considering the recent de-classification of Ken Park there seems to be a concerted effort to upset the censors with this years festival line up; a lingering mentality of you can't ban everything! Sex is Comedy doesn't disappoint. Breillat has gently hung up her existential skates and appended ‘comedy' to the genre section of her C.V.

Sex is Comedy deals specifically with the shooting of sex scenes and the ensuing madness. The film is shot documentary style with a behind-the-scenes aesthetic but with professional actors filling out the bodies of a film-set crew, including a svengali director (sans Breillat). The action takes place on the set of Breillat's previous film, A Ma Soeur (For My Sister - Australian title), and takes a comical look at the serious work of creating erotic scenes for the screen. A power struggle emerges between the female director, who believes that the actors accepted their roles simply to enjoy the sex-scenes she has written, and the lead male actor, whom she must taunt and ridicule to evoke the performance she needs - one that will include him wearing a prosthetic erect penis to heighten the tension of the inevitable encounter.

The film illustrates the tendency of directors, especially European auteurs (if you believe the hype), to coach their actors so as to provoke a great performance for the cameras, manipulating them to a glorious ejaculation - as it were. The director's own explanation is that male actors see the resposibility of performing in sex scenes as being beneath them and they this need to be dominated before they can create anything incredible, whereas actresses always get along with their directors, whether they like them or not. Giving up your soul is a female act, and taking one is a male one says Breillat through the film's characters.

Breillat's work explores the virtue of mistreating gender, where females with strong sexual vices deserve and are granted power and feminine, castrated males are punished or ignored. By the narrative's conclusion the substitute director's intention for the scenes are revealed as are, we must assume, Breillat's. Sex is Comedy is a concession but also a confession, and one that the industry deserves. Perhaps now the public and censors alike will accept Breillat's unique view of sexuality and its influence on our definitions of self and the psychology of identity. Sex is Comedy highlights the lengths taken to ensure that sex scenes are both erotic and meaningful in a way the censors seem unable to grasp. Breillat is the most exciting filmmaker to come from France since the last one.

© 2003 R. W. Gordon. All rights reserved.