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The
more the merrier
>>
When Two Won’t Do delves into polyamory
by MATTHEW HAYS
 The
world of the swinger is certainly an intriguing one. Lots of open relationships,
in which people in stable relationships throw aside the usual parameters
and allow for all sorts of goings-on with other mates.
It sounds cool,
anyway, but Montreal directors Maureen Marovitch and David Finch, who
are partners in real life, are too smart to present the world of “polyamory”
in such simplistic terms.
Slightly confused about how to make their own open situation work, Finch
and Marovitch set out to attend a few conventions and to visit with
other non-traditional family models to find out how others cope with
nonconformity. And, in turn, to make their own documentary about the
scene, When Two Won’t Do.
After last year’s excellent The Lifestyle, which also featured
profiles of a number of swingers or polyamorists, a couple of things
stand out about this film. First, a certain similarity. After two docs
on the topic, something seems to stand out about these polyamorous folk.
Most of them, though not all, seem to defy standard definitions of beauty.
This is not meant as a put-down; there’s something admirably gutsy
and ballsy about people who won’t allow themselves to be written
out of the sex game by the tyranny of GQ and Cosmo. Secondly, the difference
between this film and The Lifestyle: Finch and Marovitch have created
a first-person film here, in which their own lives begin to get very
complicated as the film progresses. (The filmmaker behind The Lifestyle
remained unseen and off-camera.)
This openness is both honest and gutsy, and leads to the film’s
crucial plot turn, something both tragic and shocking—a plot turn
which would be wrong to reveal here. Suffice it to say that When Two
Won’t Do ends up becoming one of those prime examples of Direct
Cinema, a film that makes us squirm as it explores the complexities
of being a sexual animal. :
When Two Won’t
Do screens this Tuesday,
Feb. 12 to Friday, Feb. 15 at the NFB cinema downtown (1564 St-Denis)
at 9pm nightly. The filmmakers will be present for a question-and-answer
session after each screening
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