The Houston Chronicle (Houston, TX)
Nov 4, 2001
Romance uncovered; Actor David Wenham's new film straddles the line between love and sex. (zest)
Louis B. Parks.
ASKING if the glass is half-full or half-empty is not the only question that defines personality.
There is, for example, the quiz about love and sex. Do people fall in love in order to have sex? Or is the pursuit of sex just a search for real love?
The relationship between love and sex is as ever-shifting as a Mobius strip for Josh and Cin in the Australian film "Better Than Sex," opening Friday at the Angelika.
"It's about two people who don't know each other at all but really do want to get to know each other," said David Wenham, the 35-year-old Aussie actor who plays Josh. "And they don't have much time to do it."
Few films, and very few American films, attempt the delicate mix of comedy, romance and all-out lovemaking found in Better Than Sex. While the camera never shows anything hard-core, the heady mix of bare flesh, passionate faces and suggestive sounds may well lead viewers to think they see everything. The main characters are having - and hugely enjoying - various forms of sex most of the time.
"I think (director) Jonathan (Teplitzky) is extremely clever," Wenham said. "Especially in the way he covered all the action. It was in a very suggestive way, as opposed to having a full shot of both of us. Extremely imaginative, creative coverage."
Cin (Susie Porter) and Josh meet at a party in the opening scene and bumble their way toward what is supposed to be a one-night stand. Who knew they'd like each other?
Although a very small percentage of Australian movies ever make it to the United States, Wenham said he's not surprised this one did.
"It's a film that has universal themes and can travel very, very well," he said. "It just happened to be filmed in Australia, but I think anybody can relate to what it's about. Two people who want to get to know each other."
In addition to several Australian movies, Wenham starred in a hit TV series there called SeaChange, which he describes as having a tone much like Northern Exposure. He also had a minor role in Moulin Rouge and will be seen in the part of Faramir (second son of Denethor II) in The Two Towers and The Return of the King, the second and third films in The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
For a mainstream romantic comedy, Better Than Sex is very frank. Wenham said he knew what he was getting into.
"Oh, the script was certainly very indicative of what we're entering into," he said. "The script was the thing that drew me to the project. It was quite an unusual film, but a very accessible film, as well. And a very bloody funny film.
"But the fact that it is very frank and does involve a lot of nudity was certainly evident up front."
No pun intended.
If he had any qualms about a film with so much sex and nudity, Wenham found an interesting way to deal with it.
"I must admit I tried not to think about it too much when we were shooting.
"It was only after a screening in Melbourne, for a couple of thousand people, that I did a question-and-answer session afterward, and somebody asked me what it was like to know that 2,000 people were sitting there in the dark watching my bum up on screen. I must admit it was the first time I ever thought about it."
Actors frequently assure anyone who'll listen that filming love scenes is awkward and uncomfortable, to boot. For Better Than Sex, Wenham and Porter had the advantage of having known each other for several years. Some of that on-screen good humor was not hard to create.
"We're friends," Wenham said. "We have a similar sense of humor. So we approached it extremely lightheartedly and, I must admit, had an enormous amount of fun, just playing."
Even in a movie intended to be funny and frothy, love scenes always bring up the matter of taste.
"An audience will let you know if something is gratuitous or not, and I don't think this is gratuitous in any way," Wenham said. "People can relate and find all the situations very amusing.
"As an actor, if you are involved in shooting something like that and feel you are being used to some extent, you're certainly very aware. But that never happens in this film."
That's the way Wenham sees it, anyway, and many viewers will agree. But with a film that deals with sexuality as casually and frankly as Better Than Sex, others are sure to see the glass as more than half-empty.