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2013年3月24日 星期日

The Holy Quaternity( 四性一體)

I do not know how it is for others. For me, my 13th film, the Holy Quaternity at the HKIFF is comedy rather than a serious movie exploring the dynamics and implications of a sexual foursome. It's a 2012 film 'Svatá čtveřice by Czech director Jan Hřebejk starring  Jenovefa Bokova as Johanka, Gregor Buaer as Adam, Hynek Cermak as Adam's buddy, Viktorie Cermáková as his wife.   

We see two women living next to each other working as volunteers at an art playgroup talking about their sex life. They are the wives of two electricians working at the same company both of whom had been married almost 20 years and both with teenage children and were saying how dull the marital bed has become. Then one of their husbands won a lottery and they decided to have a holiday. Since it just so happens that their company wants them to help do some post hurricane remedial power supply work somewhere in the Caribbeans, they decide to take their wives along.  The film is about what happens there: wife swapping on two cardinal conditions: they must promise never to fall in love and they can never meet privately without the presence of the other. They think it may work except that they need a little time to get used to the idea. In fact, it does except when by accident they show some parts of the videos they have taken about their holiday which should not have been there to their children and their grandparents and when the two wives have taken a liking to each other and making it in bed leaving the two men drinking beer outside their bedroom of of one of them!   

The title says "Holy Quaternity". I am sure that the word "holy" there must have been there as an irony. Not only are parents sleeping around, so are their teenage children, who are initially repulsed by what they saw but later toy with the idea that they might do the same. I understand that in Japan some couples are actually doing this already. It's a real lightweight of a movie, which looks to me barely little more than a flimsy excuse to show some bit of Caribbean sand, sea, sun and lots of skin..


2 則留言:

  1. 域 流亦詩 Louis Rick2013年3月24日 晚上10:34

    這種題材電影從前亦有人拍過。謝謝分享。
    [版主回覆03/25/2013 12:20:22]Yes you're right. There was a Japanese film on the same subject at the HKIFF some time ago. Much more serious.

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  2. 早晨!你好嗎?
    [版主回覆03/25/2013 12:20:59]I'm fine. But tired after watching so many films. Hope you're in a much better condition

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