My Year Without Sex (2009) starring Sacha Horler, Matt Day, Jonathan Segat, Portia Bradley, Fred Whitlock, Katie Wall, Maud Davey directed by Sarah Watt Movie Review

My Year Without Sex (2009)   3/53/53/53/53/5


Matt Day and Sacha Horler in My Year Without Sex (2009)

A Year, A Day and a Horler

Curiously deceptive is the way I would describe "My Year Without Sex" because it is one of those movies which seems to be about one thing and then focuses on something else. Take the opening which highlights that sex is everywhere, in conversation, at newspaper racks and in flirting gazes with a work colleague it is a socially aware opening which leads you to think that the next 90 minutes will be a sex comedy of sorts. But then it isn't about sex, well not sort of because it is about how a middle class family cope throughout the year after the mother nearly dies from an aneurism and is not able to do certain things including having sex. It makes it very curious, and intentionally plays with our expectations, setting something up and then doing something very different.

For Natalie & Ross (Sacha Horler and Matt Day) and with their two children life is pretty normal, there are struggles and stress but they are happy. But out of the blue Natalie faints and is rushed into hospital for emergency brain surgery due you to an aneurism. The near death experience makes Natalie search for a reason whilst she also struggles with the orders of her doctor to avoid sneezing, straining on the toilet, lifting and having sex. It makes for a tough year as Natalie and Ross try to deal with their changed world.

Matt Day and Maud Davey in My Year Without Sex (2009)

So as I said "My Year Without Sex" is a curious movie which interweaves a look at a family's life over the course of the year with elements of sex comedy. It makes it strangely playful from observations of sex being everywhere to the trials of normal life such as a goldfish dying being a big event. And then interweave into this Natalie's changed view, searching for a reason whilst dealing with the fact that she is horny. It makes it a movie which goes all over the place, setting things up and then doing something different such as in the scene where Ross finds a scratch card under the tree, you think something is going to happen and then well watch and see.

What that does mean is that whilst curious and entertaining "My Year Without Sex" is a bit of a rollercoaster. There will be dramatic scenes such as Natalie seeing how she looks for the first time after her surgery to moments of seemingly nothingness before then springing an amusing observation on life before more just normal observations of life. It does mean at times it struggles to keep your attention but it is worth persevering because there is many great scenes scattered through out the movie.

There are also two great performances in "My Year Without Sex" starting with Matt Day as Ross whose daily confrontation with sex around him makes this side of the movie come to life. You really have your eyes opened up to how much sex and sexual messages are out there in every day life through Ross's struggles. But then there is Sacha Horler as Natalie and trust me Horler will blow your socks off during the early scenes and by that I mean how she looks and acts following the surgery, it is so believable you begin to wonder whether Horler has gone through the surgery herself. It is not just those opening scenes because Horler makes the searching for answers aspect of the story come to life as well as a curious friendship which forms with a former 80s band singer turned priest.

What this all boils down to is that "My Year Without Sex" is a curious but entertaining movie which playful delivers a look at life. It is a movie which being about life is at times a bit dull but at the same time it manages to be amusing and also a little deep. Basically it's not for everyone and if you are not into movies built around slices of life it will probably be a struggle.


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