The Sexual Life Of The Belgians Review

Sexual Life Of The Belgians, The
This is a narative of the subjects sexual life, in which he gets taught the Karma sutra, marries has two children, seperates from his wife, meets more women, writes pornography and novels.

by Paul Merrill |
Published on
Release Date:

14 Jul 1995

Running Time:

80 minutes

Certificate:

18

Original Title:

Sexual Life Of The Belgians, The

You might think it more than a touch narcissistic to write and direct a film chronicling your own sex life - especially when you consider this is to be the first part of a trilogy. But Flemish political anarchist Jan Bucquoy has no such foibles, and, consequently, there's a wonderful sense of abandon to this light, titillating comedy.

The opening line, "My mother had nice tits", sets the tone perfectly, and the film proceeds into a series of anecdotal episodes charting his sexual growth. The young Bucquoy is shown befriending a schoolgirl known as Dirty Knickers and finds his aunt hanging dead from the rafters revealing her underwear. His first real sexual experience is in a caravan watching Laurel And Hardy films with an older boy called Eddy. "It's no better with girls," he's assured. In his late teens he heads for Brussels intending to write a novel, but a series of liaisons, a broken marriage and two children bring him only a severe case of disillusionment.

The film has a voyeuristic fascination and a wry, angst-ridden script, but this is undermined by a lack of solid motivation. With a more sophisticated undertone this could have been a quirky, intelligent satire, instead it all seems a rather obvious, if saucily entertaining, titter-inducing sexual yarn. Ultimately, however, you just have to admire anyone with the balls to lay themselves quite so bare.

This could have been quirky and interesting but it isn't. It lacks motivation and credibility.
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