In 1972, Woody Allen produced Everything You Wanted to Know About Sex But Were Afraid to Ask, a series of vignettes about everything from sex in public to a whirlwind sheep romance pushing the limits of sexual absurdity. Unfortunately, one of the things we never asked to know — whether Allen had a predilection for his then-partner’s adopted daughter — was something we were forced to learn later.
In 2007, Young People Fucking premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. The film is a series of vignettes that have been overshadowed by a title that some, like the federal Conservatives, see as pushing the limits of decency. Unlike Allen’s icky cradle-robbing, though, writers Martin Gero and Aaron Abrams have shown a side of sexual experience that’s comfortingly familiar. In fact, if they ever decide to drop the headline-grabbing YPF moniker, they might as well rename it Everything You Already Knew About Sex But Wanted to See On Screen.
A refreshingly honest sex comedy that steers clear of castrated rom-com clichés or sophomoric toilet humour, YPF is set in the bedrooms of five couples: a pair of longtime platonic friends (Abrams and Carly Pope), a one-night stand (Diora Baird and Callum Blue), a bored couple (Josh Dean and Kristin Booth), reunited ex-partners (Sonja Bennett and Josh Cooke) and a voyeuristic threesome (Ennis Esmer, Peter Oldring and Natalie Lisinska).
Directed by Gero, the camera never pulls away from the actors, forcing the focus onto the words and expressions of the film’s excellent cast. Bittersweet moments like the ambivalence of reviving a broken connection vie with absurdity like the sudden introduction of a strap-on dildo, and the result is as intimate as it is skillful. In a film intended for audiences with sexual experience, it’s a pleasure to be rewarded for recognition just as much as laugh-out-loud vulgarity.
If YPF stumbles, it’s only in sealing the deal. At least one vignette wraps up its complexity with a familiar revelation of absolute love, and another softens the sting of deceit with a sly wink. But there’s no sense revealing which of them finishes which, because as in sex, one or two minor bumps are hardly enough to ruin a wonderful night.
Insightful and unflinching, Young People Fucking is the kind of sex comedy that audiences with experience deserve. Based more on sharp observation than on soggy gags, it’s an excellent survey of what we already knew sex could be and why the whole thing’s still so funny.
