Australian Sex Comedy ‘The Little Death’ Comes Stateside

Sandra Miska

For those who like their comedies a little edgy, be sure to check out the Australian film “The Little Death.” Sexual fantasies and how they affect people’s lives will be explored when “The Little Death” opens in theaters.

“The Little Death” may sound like a dark title for a sex comedy, but it’s actually a Victorian euphemism for sexual climax (la petite mort). The film takes place in a neighborhood in Sydney and tells the stories of four couples: Maeve (Bojana Novakovic) and her commitment-phobe boyfriend Paul (Josh Lawson, who also wrote and directed the film), unhappy married couple Phil (Alan Dukes) and Maureen (Lisa McCune), Evie (Kate Mulvany) and Dane (Damon Herriman), who decide to spice up their love life with role play, and Rowena (Kate Box), who gets turned on whenever her husband Richard (Patrick Brammall) cries.

The common thread of “The Little Death” is Steve (Kim Gyngell), a registered sex offender who is required to visit each of the couples to inform them of his criminal status. This comedy offers a bit of sexual education, as each of the many bizarre sexual syndromes displayed by the characters will be defined onscreen.

The fetishes of the main characters in “The Little Death” may sound like a lot, but apparently there were plenty that didn’t make the cut. According to The Australian, it is Lawson’s hope that the film is successful enough to spawn a sequel so her can include the sexual proclivities that didn’t make the original.

A fifth plot involves Mona (Erin James), an employee at a video service company similar to Skype that translates phone conversations for deaf clients. Awkwardness arises when Sam (T.J. Power) enlists Mona’s help in communicating with a phone sex operator (Genevieve Hegney).

“It’d be awesome but it would only matter if it found an audience,” said Lawson. “I know if people see it, they’ll like it; I’m certain of it, if they just take a chance.

It’s getting them in the friggin’ door.”

“The Little Death opens in select theaters and on VOD June 26.