SIRENS
A film review by Scott Renshaw
Copyright 1994 Scott Renshaw
Starring: Hugh Grant, Tara Fitzgerald, Sam Neill, Elle Macpherson, Portia de Rossi. Screenplay/Director: John Duigan.
I'm no marketing whiz, but it would appear that someone made a serious error in the advertising campaign for the new Australian import SIRENS. The posters prominently feature the bare back of co-star/supermodel Elle Macpherson accompanied by the line, "Be seduced." One might be inclined to believe that the target audience is men, and that SIRENS is simply some soft-core porn throwaway. In fact, SIRENS has more in common with ENCHANTED APRIL than it does with EMMANUELLE. Writer/director John Duigan, creator of the wonderful coming-of-age films THE YEAR MY VOICE BROKE and FLIRTING, has fashioned another tale of sexual awakening, this time focusing on an adult, and it's a delightfully acted and beautifully filmed comedy-drama.
SIRENS is a fictional story based on the true-life 1930s artist Norman Lindsay (Sam Neill), a free-thinking Australian whose nude studies, particularly "The Crucified Venus," created a stir in conservative British circles. When the Anglican church becomes concerned about the "blasphemous" painting's inclusion in an international exhibition of Lindsay's work, it sends clergyman Anthony Campion (Hugh Grant) and his wife Estella (Tara Fitzgerald) to convince Lindsay to withdraw it voluntarily. The very proper British couple is invited to stay at Lindsay's wild and lush compound, where they meet his three principal models: lusty Sheela (Elle Macpherson), socialist Prue (Kate Fischer) and innocent Giddy (Portia de Rossi). While Anthony works to persuade Lindsay, Estella is left to discover the untamed world of the Australian Blue Mountains. Gradually, a change comes over her, as the influence of the uninhibited models opens Estella's eyes to desires she didn't know she had.
SIRENS skillfully interweaves two themes without seeming overstuffed. The principal story, that of Estella's response to the liberated and liberating world of the Lindsay estate, focuses on how that world interacts with the restrictive female sexual mores of the time. Tara Fitzgerald does an impressive job of conveying Estella's growing curiosity through her open face and subtle body language, and our view of an Australia only just on the edge of "civilization" comes through her eyes. That world is populated by wombats, insects and even flowers which take on a kind of personality. However, most significantly, there are snakes, and the Linday compound is established as a kind of reverse-Eden where humans have the chance to return to a state of nature through acknowledgement of sensuality. The characters native to this world are frequently shown eating apples, practically wallowing in their connection to original sin. Lindsay challenges the Christian notion of sin as linked to female sexuality, and SIRENS is largely the playing out of that challenge.
At the same time, the issue of artistic censorship is very much part of the subtext. The dinner table debates between Anthony and Lindsay frame the argument, and while it is clear where Duigan's sentiments lie he doesn't turn Anthony into a dogma-spouting stereotype. He presents the Church's case with a respect for its views, and Hugh Grant is a charming and surprisingly hip spokesman. While the arguments are nothing special, and in fact tend towards the cliche, Duigan treats the issue of art, its influence on the public and the artist's responsibility as a legitimate subject of debate.
If there is any fault to be found with Duigan's script, it's that he does skimp on his characters in the interest of establishing his analogy. The relationship between Anthony and Estella is not as well-established as it might be, and Lindsay himself is little more than a catalyst for Estella's transformation. Macpherson and Fischer look good, but they're given too much to say and it's never all that interesting when they do speak. However, SIRENS does quite a lot with its visuals, highlighting its glorious Australian settings, and it maintains a frisky sense of humor about its sensual subject matter without sniggering over it. Those who might be looking for a leering sex romp should look elsewhere; SIRENS is lyrical, lively and thoughtful and always a feast for the senses.
On the Renshaw scale of 0 to 10 sirens: 8.
-- Scott Renshaw Stanford University Office of the General Counsel
.
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews