In Talk Dirty to Me, Sallie Tisdale writes: "Sexual desire is unwilled — any given desire is born, lives, evolves, ages, changes, dies." This process is played out in The Monkey's Mask, an Australian "erotic murder mystery" based on a verse novel by Dorothy Porter published in 1995.
Jill (Susie Porter) is a 28-year-old private detective hired to look into the disappearance of Mickey (Abbie Cornish), a young literature student and poet. Upon first meeting Diana (Kelly McGillis), Mickey's English professor, Jill is swept off her feet and tells us in voice-over narration: "She's a bit of alright." They act upon their sexual desires for each other even though Diana is married to Nick (Marton Csokas), a polished lawyer and full-fledged hedonist.
When Mickey is found strangled to death, her mother gives up on the police and hires Jill to solve the murder. The working-class detective stumbles around in the unfamiliar world of poetry readings and publishing. Her torrid affair with Diana continues even though she's quite taken aback by the poetry professor's penchant for kinky sex.
Samantha Lang directs The Monkey's Mask with a vivid appreciation for the sexual obsessions of the characters. Jill discovers that Mickey was having affairs with two middle-aged mentors who both become prime suspects. In the end, the street-smart detective comes to see the dangerous dimensions of her sexual affair with Diana, a femme fatale whose appetite for adventure is boundless. Susie Porter delivers another smashing performance almost as rigorous and colorful as the one in Better Than Sex, another erotic drama.