Scenes of a Sexual Nature (2006)

I came across this film in my seemingly never-ending quest to find movies Tom Hardy has been in. Not, mind you, because I can’t track, but more because some are really hard to come by.

This film is not actually porn, for those of you with sick minds. It is, however, about how we approach sex and love differently.

This film is incredibly entertaining. I’m assuming it has to be since it was labelled a comedy, but if it wasn’t then I found it mightily entertaining anyway. It’s made a little like Love Actually, where there are many stories in one film and they all somehow link together. However, unlike Love Actually, here the separate couples don’t actually know each other, they’re just in the same area of London on the same day. Because of this, it has a rather jumpy style of cutting, that pings between two then three then more couples over and over throughout the film. It’s easy to follow, though, not distracting, but if you’re after a linear film perhaps set your sights on another.

The dialogue in this film is what makes it. If you were squeamish about seeing this movie on the grounds of the title, then go without fear to see it for the dialogue. Obviously don’t see if it you’re 12 (more because half the stuff won’t make sense to you) but don’t be put off by the title. It’s a very amusing dialogue-based comedy, as many British comedies are, which is why I tend to like them a lot more than American comedies.

This film is really good, also, for the fact that it doesn’t just concentrate on young-to-middle-aged couples. It sometimes really bugs me when films do that, because love doesn’t have an expiry date or a use-before time, and some of the most romantic and beautiful couples are elderly. In this film one of the most entertaining ones is an elderly couple, sitting on a bench talking about the view. There is also a gay couple, which makes me happy personally, because although it is 2010 it’s ridiculous how many people are still against same-sex relationships or are just downright cruel to gay people.

The amount of actors in this film that I knew really blew me away actually. Funny thing, most of them I knew by face and not by name. But the film promises to showcase the wonderful talents of Eileen Atkins, Tom Hardy, Ewan McGregor, Andrew Lincoln, Adrian Lister, Mark Strong and Sophie Okonedo to name a few.

I recommend this to anyone who likes romance movies, because, as I said, this film has sex mentioned but it’s not ABOUT it. It’s really funny and truly witty in places and absolutely thoroughly enjoyable. If you liked Love Actually you’ll really like this (plus, it has Andrew Lincoln as well!) but if you’re just a fan of good romance and British humor then this is definitely a film to seek out. I could say something about the accents here but it may be seen as a shallow comment so will refrain. I’d give it a 6/10 and definitely watch it again.

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