My Year Without Sex Review

My Year Without Sex Review

Cast: Sacha Horler, Matt Day, Katie Wall, Fred Whitlock, Maude Davey, Portia Bradley, Jonathan Segat
Director: Sarah Watt
Screenplay: Sarah Watt
Genre: Drama
Rated: M Moderate violence
Running Time: 96 Minutes

Synopsis:

My Year Without Sex is kind of a love story about a family dealing with all the big questions and even more of the small ones. Set over one messy year, Ross and Natalie and their two kids, Louis and Ruby, navigate nits, faith, Christmas, job insecurity, footy practice, more nits, and whether they will ever have sex again.

My Verdict:

Natalie (Sacha Horler) is a suburban Australian mother who collapses with a brain aneurysm whilst (fortuitously) attending an appointment at her doctor. She awakes in intensive care, her husband Ross (Matt Day) at her side, discovering her shaved head now has a massive scar and that her life as she knew it is on hold. My Year Without Sex follows Natalie for the next year as she readjusts to her medical situation, including the advice not to have sex.

Separated into delightful monthly titled and illustrated chapters, My Year Without Sex is fresh and unpretentious. Sacha Horler is wonderful as Natalie, capably handling the rollercoaster that has become her life. Her family has gone from two incomes to one, she is limited physically and she's frustrated about the meaning of her life since her aneurysm. In her search for some sense, she attends a local choir group for some 'stress relief' and befriends the choirmaster, Margaret (an excellent Maude Davey) who is also a church minister and past 80's rock band muso.

Meanwhile, Ross too is frustrated at the abrupt change in his life, fearful of redundancy whilst trying to carry on, which Matt Day handles perceptively. Jonathan Segat plays Louis, the 12-year-old son who is a Western Bulldogs (Australian Rules Football team) fan and Portia Bradley is 8-year-old Ruby. Both children are natural and a joy to watch.

It is the attention to detail that keeps My Year Without Sex grounded. The house the family live in is just so typically average suburban: the kitchen is the family hub, cluttered with all sorts of 'stuff', the bedrooms filled with more 'stuff', the family cars are old enough to vote, dealing with headlice is an ongoing activity - all regular mundane facets of family life. Added to this is the excellent dialogue, which is interspersed with some clever lines and black humour and a soundtrack which includes Australian and international music.

Writer and director Sarah Watt (Look Both Ways) has produced a wonderfully uplifting and rewarding movie that successfully gathers the nuances of suburban life and skilfully presents them compassionately, making for a satisfyingly enjoyable movie. Watch out for a priceless cameo from William McInnes as a car accident driver.

Rating : ****

Christina Bruce


My Year Without Sex


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