Wherever your turn today, sexuality is used to sell something; it is also the subtext in both casual encounters and the traditional marriage bed. Yet most of us are unwilling to talk openly about it and whenever someone does, there is usually plenty of nervous laughter. Perhaps that is why writer and director Leslie Shearing has made this a sexual farce rather than a straight documentary. The genre enables the audience to be less uptight about what they see on the screen. Laughter helps the medicine go down. And the medicine is that couples with sexual problems cannot find a quick fix no matter how much money they spend. The obsession with self-improvement programs has reached a point of true absurdity, and that development is also lanced in this funny film.
Joseph St. John (Hans Hoffman) is a graphic designer and his wife of seven years, Mary (Heather Smith), is an accounts executive in an advertising firm. After they both realize that their sex life is not what it used to be (no sex for a month), they decide to find out what has gone wrong. Mary takes the lead and sets them up with Dr. Emil Watson (Douglas Manes) who immediately senses that Mary is very repressed and tense and Joseph is very angry about being denied sexual pleasure. What's more, neither of them has a positive self-image: they compare themselves to others and figure they have missed the mark by a mile in the bedroom. The sex therapist has them do some role playing, tries a technique he calls "replacement therapy," and caps it off with some anger management enactments. It is something to see Joseph's anger for his frustration come to the surface but when Mary lets loose, it's almost as if a wild beast has escaped from her body.
Mary also signs them up for visits to Dr. Nadia Pfelt (Leslie Shearing), an urologist who is convinced that their problems are physical. This very pragmatic advisor does some tests involving masturbation and in the end prescribes Viagra for Joseph and a "clitoral pump" and all kinds of special creams for Mary. The tab for her counsel is over $2000. The last sessions are at the Tantric Den run by Todd Cohen (Michael Rose), his wife Gehan (Donna Klimek), and their assistant Tanya (Elizabeth Quinn). They create a ritual space where Joseph and Mary can explore their genitals, do erotic dances with each other, and experiment with the ancient art of "sacred spot massage."
What is truly funny about this erotic farce is the widely held ideal that you can bring the sparks back into your sex life by following certain rules or regimens provided by experts who are ready, willing, and able to charge an arm and a leg for their wise advise. What is truly sad about this film is the pain and the disappointment of couples like Joseph and Mary who will always find themselves inadequate thanks to the high expectations of sexual ecstasy that dance in their heads as they make love.
