KIKI, LOVE TO LOVE
Spain, 2016, 102 minutes, Colour.
Directed by Paco Leon.
This is a comedy about sex and sexuality. And the various stories in it are to be found along the continuum from prudishness to permissiveness. But, it is a reminder that anything human, any human experience can be the subject of humour otherwise it is taken too seriously, put on false pedestal, while at other times it is taken far less seriously for crass entertainment.
There are five stories in this film and they are intercut. There is a young couple in love but she finds that she is aroused by the experience of being attacked, as she was at a service station. This leads to some serious talk between the couple but also to a farcical re-enactment when the girl breaks her fiance's nose in a set up attack. There is also a plastic surgeon whose wife has been in a car accident and is particularly bitter and frigid. He is aroused by seeing her sleeping so decides that he will drug her each night for his own satisfaction, she not aware of what has been happening. (They also have a Filipina maid who is wanting breast enhancement surgery and shrewdly uses her observations to bring down the price.). Another couple want to become pregnant and the wife gets advice from the doctor only to find that she is aroused by seeing her husband weeping, especially at the funeral of a friend.
The director of the film, Paco Leon, takes the role of a husband who goes with his wife to a therapist, discusses sexual problems rather frankly, experiments at home but the couple's life is disturbed by a friend who works a sex club which gives the audience the opportunity to blend prurience with curiosity as they visit the club and see some bizarre behaviour. The solution to the problems comes in the form of the friend and her becoming part of the household.
Sex and pathos are combined in the fifth story, a hearing-impaired young woman who is affected by the texture of fabrics but who also works at a phone exchange for hearing-impaired clients, discussing phone sex with a very ordinary woman at the other end who is busy fixing her face and disturbed by a saucepan exploding on her stove. The young man is studying for exams but is attracted to his interpreter.
With the story told, some kind of conclusion reached, everybody turns up at a local fairground.
It is surprising to find that this is a fairly exact remake of an Australian film, The Little Death, by Josh Lawson. In transferring it to Spain, the makers have given it more sunlight and exuberance than the original.
1. Spanish exuberance? Sex, love, sexual issues?
2. The original, Australian, its tone? The transition to Spanish characters, moods, excitement?
3. Audience interest in the themes, responses? Problems and their repercussions?
4. The Spanish city, homes, hospital, doctor's surgery, the fair, the phone service for the deaf, the sex club? The musical score, the songs?
5. Humour about sex and sexuality? Anything human being the subject of humour? The issue of how it is treated?
6. The five stories, their interconnection throughout the film, everybody together at the fair at the end?
7. Natalia and Alex, the relationship, sexual, the lovemaking, her story of the garage and the attack, being roused? Alex and his attempts to recreate this, during the picnic? The gift of the earrings and her disappointment? The meal, the setup, the parking lot, the thugs attacking, Alex arranging it, changing his clothes, the attack on Natalia, her breaking his nose, injury and in hospital? The engagement and the ring? The discussion about being together, intimacy, and breaking wind? The experience of the picnic and the Natalie's sister, aroused by plants and trees?
8. Ana and Paco, going to the therapist, the frank talk about sexual behaviour, their trying to emulate the experience in the kitchen and failing? Belen and her arrival, her story? Needing help and accommodation? Her work at the club? Inviting Ana and Paco to the club, dressing up, the encounters, the bizarre behaviour, the old man being spanked, Ana and her awkwardness and feeling sick, Belen giving her the kiss? And the issue of urinating? Belen at home, with their daughter, sexually provocative? The effect on Ana, discussions with Paco? His setting up Belen with his wife? Going out, spying on them – and the threesome?
9. Antonio, his job, Candelaria, his watching the pornography, the sexual encounters, her ovulation, going to the doctor, the issue of orgasm, her being roused by tears, Antonio weeping, at the funeral and the aftermath? The loss of the dog, pretending that she had cancer, Antonio following her, the phone calls? His wanting proof of the cancer? The doctor congratulating them on their pregnancy? At the fair and their stall?
10. The doctor, plastic surgery, his assistant and her story about her daughter selling her underwear, the clients? His wife, accident, in the chair, her irritability? The Filipino maid looking after them? The doctor roused by his sleeping wife, drugging her, dragging along the floor, the sexual behaviour and the effect? The maid, knowing the truth, wanting the breast implementation, the price, its going down, her saying she would not reveal the truth and her getting the discount? All at the fair?
11. The deaf woman, at home, aroused by fabrics? Being deaf, able to turn the hearing aid on and off? In the train, fingering the silk, getting off the train, her experience? In the phone exchange, the young man, wanting the sex talk, the ordinary woman at the other end of the phone, fixing her face, the explosion in the kitchen, her sex talk? The woman translating, toning it down? The young man and his exams?
12. Everybody at the fair, solutions, the deaf woman and seeing the student and the audience leaving the cinema cheerfully?
13. The technical terms used throughout the film for sexual arousal and their seeming somewhat bizarre to the ordinary audience?
