Bliss

This is an odd little movie about a handsome yuppie couple, Maria and Joseph, who have serious emotional problems. She is frigid and possesses a "borderline" personality (whatever that is), he is obsessed with "curing" her - making her more to his liking. Naturally, therapy is called for. After some initial unproductive consultations with a marriage counsellor, a more unorthodox therapist is resorted to. This rather preposterous figure, Balthazar, (he is a violinist of concert standard and ace motor mechanic as well as therapist and lives in a grand booklined apartment), has sex with his female patients and generally carries on as if he were above the rest of humanity. In real life of course he would be quickly struck off, despite the lines of satisfied patients trooping out of his rooms. Initially antagonistic, Joseph becomes an acolyte, and eagerly soaks up the mish mash of yoga, breathing control, masturbation, mind games and crackerbarrel philosophy served up by the arrogant one. The couple make some progress (discovering bondage with Joseph as the slave helps) until a nasty secret from Maria's past comes out and, unable to deal with both it and her awakened husband, she asks him to leave. But all is not lost, time heals wounds and there is a reconciliation.

The problem with this movie is its inconsistency. It starts off as a comedy but veers mid way through into personal drama intercut with some fairly didactic lectures on sexual relations. There are some nice soft porny bits (in blue!) with the handsome couple that tend to detract from their severe psychological problems rather than illustrate them. The theme "screwing is as much a mind game as anything" does emerge reasonably clearly but it also helps, it seems, to be young, rich and gorgeous. The film apparently did not do well at the box office - a comedy or a porn film with a similar storyline would doubtless have done better. Believe me, it's not easy to deliver entertaining lectures.

I am also left wondering about Joseph's alleged "Pygmalion" complex - the desire to model the woman of his dreams out of Maria. He spends most of the movie on a quest for self-improvement, his attitude towards women in general improving considerably.

Terrence Stamp, British journeyman actor from way back, turns in an attractive performance as Dr Balthazar, "practising at the edge of the law," as another analyst puts it. All glistening eyes and shiny silver hair, he holds back just enough to allow a tiny bit of parody to emerge. Craig Sheffer as Joseph has porn star good looks (muscles, no body hair), a perpetually surprised expression, and a reasonable acting range. We see more of him than Maria, (Sheryl Lee, of "Twin Peaks" fame.) Maria spends a lot of time crying, which Sheryl seems to be good at.

Location filming was in Vancouver, which provided some pretty backdrops. The streetscape was far too clean and tidy to be any large city in the U.S. Canadians might be a buttoned down lot but at least they pick up their rubbish. The film is apparently a first effort from writer/director Lance Young, formerly a production executive. One could be cruel and say "stick with your day job" but it is not an uninteresting movie. There are solid acting, nice locations and a few interesting ideas. Yet the story itself is highly improbable, and the people involved too pretty and stupid to really engender much empathy in the viewer.

BLISS is a powerful, courageous film about sexual healing and the courage and love necessary to make oneself whole. It also has a lot to say about how we refer to men and women in modern American culture, and from that, how easy or unaware surface descriptions can be.

Bravo to the cast and crew! A perfect 10!

Every man and woman in America should see this film!

I truly enjoyed this movie. I rented it to watch alone, my wife out of town for the weekend, and I am definitely going to get her to watch it with me when she comes home. There were a few scenes that strained my ability to believe, such as when the main character would attempt to advise strangers, but they ended up really just providing humorous relief. I can't really imagine the modern practice of Balthazar's profession as presented in this movie, but everything else was intuitively spot-on. The movie is erotic, but even more importantly, it is a richly layered love story, one that I personally, really became invested in emotionally. There aren't too many movies that focus on the relationship within marriage, and give powerful hope for the unimaginable possibilities within it. Bliss definitely does this. It's very real, and I thought the acting was excellent. Perhaps I'm easily moved, but I found myself sitting close to the screen, fully emotionally locked into the script. My grade? A-

Movies made about problems in sex in marriage usually draws expressions of horror, or we don't want to know about it. Bliss explores one area, and there are many, of one cause and it is not uncommon, and a remedy other than traditional medicine to fix that problem.

Critics have called Bliss educational to laughable and even soft porn. Foxtel Australia (released on cable May 1999) say the truth lies in- between. Foxtel saw fit to censor several scenes of the cable version, which in my opinion completely destroyed the Director's main plot and visual effects to tell the real story of something quite different in the use of another therapy, Tantric therapy. I obtained my own uncensored copy so my comments are based on visual scenes and dialogue on the therapy used, very limited but the basics are there.

The film was dedicated to Pauline; Maria's characterisation could have been Pauline. There are many Pauline's in this world that have had help or still need it.

The dialogue exchanged between Joseph (Craig Sheffer) and Tanner (Casey Siemaszka) on the wedding day when Joseph said, Maria (Sheryl Lee)"she has some problems". She sleeps with a fly swatter [little bugger], cleans the house twice a day, locked bathroom door, suicidal, neurotic, compulsive. Oh! how I know about bathroom doors and neurosis.

Maria's nonchalance of her wedding day to her Mother is obvious when she shrugs her shoulders and regurgitates. This is when the plot starts to unfold Maria's mannerisms and idiosyncrasies (getting her Father to check if there is a snap undone), the nervousness and stomach upset.

Through the gateway from this borderline psychotic state (we learned this later on) that Maria has, sometimes ends in Depression, and Baltazar Vincenza (Terence Stamp) stops Maria going there with the use of the ancient art of Tantric lovemaking, so it seems. It didn't take much to work out that if Maria had more therapy from the staid and clinical Alfred (Spalding Gray) she may have ended up on the wrong side of that borderline.

There are some lighthearted scenes and dialogue because this movie, Bliss, is about real people, real problems and real things. The scene on the building site is especially real where Carlos and Nick advise that Baltazar Vincenzahas have 4-6 women on the hour and every hour per day and teases all of them. The uniniated into tantalic doctrine would find this perhaps laughable.

The scene in the hospital where Maria is pouring out the reasons she is there is a gem. This explanation of Marias' problems comes late into the film, but that's the way it seems the Director wanted it, and it captures my imagination to find the reasons later.

The on screen chemistry and interactions of Sheryl Lee as Maria, and Mark Scheffer as Joseph capture the moments magically.

The special artistry of capturing what matters by Australian Cinematographer Mike Malloy (A Clockwork Orange) is again done with due care and in good taste in some of the explicit scenes, where it is important to explain visually the method of this chosen therapy.

Terence Smart invigorates the movie as Baltazar Vincenza, confidently played with clear diction, precise timing (cup of tea) (like to dance) (I promise) reminiscent of the transvestite Bernadette in Priscilla Queen of the Desert, realising a different role once again.

Alfred, well played by Spalding Gray as the run of the mill, we will get it fixed by conventional therapy eventually. Until Joseph asks about Baltazar Vincenza, and then the sparks fly and the film enters a new panorama of drama, explanation and entry into a New World of therapy.

This movie has a tight script, well directed, excellent acting, and a very different way of surrounding the plot with something different to fix a common problem in marriage. It is a scene that few wish to be in, Vincenza (to Joseph), why do you put so much into it when you get so little back? Indeed, I know what he means.

Lance Young worked with production executives of Warner Bros. And Paramount and no doubt saw some fabricated screen plots, so he took to writing his own screenplay about real things and people. He no doubt found this hard and personal, but the end result in Bliss was worth the effort.

The film, in my opinion is educational to someone who knows the problems of Maria and the adoration a husband like Joseph places on his partner and marriage. The more it is viewed, the better and educational it gets, rather than having to read and view many volumes of text and videos on the subject of Tantric lovemaking, a subject that has it's poo-hoo critics.

I will be waiting eagerly for Lance Young's sequel to this excellent movie, if any.

Sheryl Lee, plays Maria, a married woman, struggling with her inability to have an orgasm and it is that fact that is killing her marriage. Terence Stamp, who is the seasoned veteran actor in this erotic, romantic, drama plays her sex therapist. He also gets entwined with her husband (Craig Sheffer), after he catches Maria going into the therapist's building. The three of them, either directly or indirectly, try to save this marriage. The whole idea is ridiculous when you watch the film, because you can't believe the legalities of Stamp's job. It does rock the believable factor. However, Lee puts in a great performance, Stamp is fantastic and occasional cameos by Casey Siemaszko and Spalding Gray, keep this film afloat and you do feel the emotional roller coaster that Maria has to go through.

6.1 (D+ MyGrade) = 6 IMDB