SEX (2024)

Less deep-dish thought-provoking than advertized; more fun than expected.  This piece of Dag Johan Haugerudor’s very Norwegian trilogy on what Cole Porter called ‘the urge to merge with the splurge’ (DREAMS; LOVE the other two, not seen here) is mostly a series of after-the-fact one-on-one conversations between two co-workers (chimney-sweeps of all things; and with the lucky handshake to prove it) or separately, them and their wives.  At first, you think you’re eavesdropping on a psychiatrist session as a patient describes a dream both awesome and unsettling.  He’s at some social event where he finds himself in the unlikely position of being objectified as a woman (in spite of still being 100% male) by none other than David Bowie.  And he’s not sure how he feels about it.  (He’s a bit like the draft-dodger in HAIR who, when asked if he’s homosexual, says: I don’t think so, but I wouldn’t kick Mick Jagger out of my bed.)  Turns out, we’re not at a psychiatrist’s office, but in a lounge having coffee & confessing to a fellow sweep on the crew.  The co-worker's not sure what to make of this either, especially after his recent experience of having a male client come on to him.  An invitation he took up . . . and rather liked.  Repressed gay?  Bisexual?  Or just a case of  'when opportunity knocks?'  Doesn’t much faze his boss, and didn’t much faze his wife when he told her.  Not at first, but now, after a chance to think, it all looks different.  And while his boss is mostly concerned about his having sex with a client (that’s not good), the wife now focused on his infidelity; not too thrilled with the gay side either.  Crises all ‘round.  The film a talk-fest for sure, but neatly paced, naturally acted and rich in reaction.  Especially from a couple of medical pros there to treat one bruised vocal cord and one bruised hand.  The latter giving the film a real comic jolt between acts two & three.  She’s more concerned with menopause & tattoos than with sexual ambivalence.  As mentioned, this one very Norwegian!  A country where people's shame more likely to center on being a church-going/choir singing Christian.

ATTENTION MUST BE PAID:  Does Haugerud tip his hand by making one of the four leads less fit than the other three?  The one who’d no longer fit into their high school uniform?  A subtle, but noticeable dig.