SEX IS COMEDY

France, 2002, 92 minutes, Colour.
Anne Parillaud, Gregoire Colin, Roxanne Mesquida, Ashley Wanninger.
Directed by Catherine Breillat.

In 1976, novelist, Catherine Breillat made a film, A Real Young Girl, based on her book, a look at a teenager coming back from boarding school, bored at home on the farm, with an eye on a young worker at the sawmill, but mainly preoccupied about herself, her sexuality, her body, experimenting with various implements about her sexual response.

In succeeding years, especially in the 1990s, the director made a number of provocative films, seemingly preoccupied with sex and sexual experience, forthright in the dialogue, explicit in filming some of the sexual activity, films like Romance.

With the turn-of-the-century, she began to make several films which were more mainstream, at least more accessible, still preoccupied with female sexual experience, like A Ma Soeur and, later, And Old Mistress. Her experiences in making A Ma Sour, especially in the sex scenes between a young girl and a local young man, were, apparently, very difficult, a lack of chemistry and rapport between the two young actors, some exasperation for the director and the crew. A Ma Soeur is a very interesting film, despite the difficulties in the production.

The young actress in the film is the same actress in Sex is Comedy.

With this in mind, the director then wrote a screenplay based on her experience, the serious aspects, the comic aspects, and the difficulties in filming sex scenes. The result is Sex is Comedy.

The film has two settings, one is on a beach with an attempt to film on the sand, with the background of the sea, the tide coming in. There is a lot of explanation, demonstration of how to do the scene, a reluctance on the part of the actress, her dislike of the leading man, his seeing it all as a job and not particularly interested in the girl herself, looking down on her. The director has to do a lot of ego-massaging, playing to the two, trying to persuade them to do the scene, especially a kiss. In the meantime, the assistant director, who may or may not be involved with the director, is concerned about the production, especially the changing in the light, the delays in filming – and then a sudden downpour.

The second scene is in the studio, a house a specially constructed with removable walls. The director is having the same problems with the cast, trying to get support from the Assistant Director who feels at times ambiguous about his relationship with her. Once again, she spends a long time with the actor, discussing his motivation, his abilities, his saying that he was being paid for the job, and her appealing to his skills as an actor. She is much more gentle and sympathetic with the young girl, once again explaining the situation, and trying to persuade her to perform, despite her dislike of the actor.

There is a great deal of detail in the action behind the scenes, about the making of the film, the cast standing by, the director of photography and his taking time to get things right, the removal of a wall for a better shot. Because the film is about sex, there is a decision to make a phallus for the actor, with a whole range of them and, eventually, some scenes with his wearing the artificial piece. In the meantime, the director spends quite a lot of time with the actors, trying to rehearse, explaining to them the positions that they will have to take and the movements. She is also concerned about a screenplay, thinking that what she wrote the night before was good but having to adapt it because she now thought it wasn’t good.

Eventually, after a lot of standing round, there is an attempt to make the scene.

During the final credits, there is a glimpse of the director, happy now that the shot is over, with the crew and the cast – a light touch to try to emphasise that sex is comedy.