The first part of Dag Johan Haugerud’s ambitious trilogy, Sex, is NOT a sex film with physical erotic scenes – it is a mildly comedic portrayal of gender identity and sexuality under the pressures of a changing modern society.
The theme is approached primarily through discussion, in monologues and dialogues, between colleagues, couples, and family members. Sex is a very entertaining conversation around modern attitudes towards and expectations of relationships – one of the best lines in the movie states how it is easier these days to admit to having had gay sex than to being Christian…
The two main characters, who remain unnamed, represent a profession rarely seen in cinema: the chimney sweep. They begin to open up to each other about their strange experiences. One of them describes a dream where David Bowie considered him a woman who would have sex with him. The other confesses to having received an offer from a male client to sweep the man’s own, more intimate chimney… These are unsettling experiences for the two heterosexual chimney sweeps – as well as for their loved ones.
The nuanced characters, interpreted by excellent actors, provoke our thoughts in a nice way. Haugerud sets the scene in the urban Scandinavian mindset of today, in the lush surroundings of the buildings and parks of suburban Oslo.
Timo Malmi