Sirens (1993) starring Hugh Grant, Tara Fitzgerald, Sam Neill, Elle Macpherson, Portia de Rossi, Kate Fischer, Pamela Rabe, Mark Gerber directed by John Duigan Movie Review

Sirens (1993)   2/52/52/52/52/5


Tara Fitzgerald and Hugh Grant in Sirens (1993)

Erotica Warning

Sent with his wife Estella (Tara Fitzgerald - Hear My Song) to take over at a church in Australia, Anthony Campion (Hugh Grant - The Big Man) is requested to stop off at the home of artist Norman Lindsay (Sam Neill - Jurassic Park) as his artworks of blasphemous erotica are causing issues for a gallery. But whilst there Estella finds her sexual desires awaken by the amoral behaviour she sees around them and especially through the handsome Devlin (Mark Gerber) who works for Mr. Lindsay.

I have a question for you, how old are you? I ask because your age plays a huge part as to what you will get out of watching "Sirens" especially if it is the first time. I say that because when I watched "Sirens" for the first time shall I say I was a typical young man who like many young men was aware that this was a movie full of nudity including scenes of a naked Elle Macpherson. The thing is that whilst many years have passed since then "Sirens" still remains only a movie of erotica as we watch a vicar's wife succumb to her sexual desires. Yes with age I can understand there is more to it than Tara Fitzgerald and Elle Macpherson naked but the story is weak and uninteresting.

Elle Macpherson in Sirens (1993)

But the flipside of this is that if you watched "Sirens" for the first time as an adult the depth of the story and what it is saying about repressed sexual urges and amoral conduct becomes more of the focus over the nudity. It still isn't the greatest of movies, in fact it is an incredibly weak movie when it comes to the narrative but with age there is a different viewpoint to this. Having said that even with age "Sirens" is still a very erotic movie which at times edges close to becoming soft porn.

Aside from that well the performances are not exactly memorable, well yes scenes of nudity are memorable but the characters themselves are not. Hugh Grant seems to have been cast because of his bumbling English stiffness is perfect as that of a stiff vicar whilst Sam Neill is criminally underused as the bohemian artist. There are other stars such as Elle Macpherson and Portia de Rossi but their value in the movie boils down to beauty and nudity. That leaves Tara Fitzgerald who at least does create a character conflicted by her repressed life and her inner desires but in the end is more memorable for her various nude scenes.

What this all boils down to is that "Sirens" was an erotic movie when I first watched it and it still is mainly an erotic movie which ends up mainly about the nudity. But I can appreciate that there is another side to the movie it just isn't strong enough for me.


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