Ali Catterall
They say six degrees separate us from everyone else. In capital cities like London (and especially among London's media types), this distance shrinks considerably. So one of the key contrivances of The West Wittering Affair - in which a client has unwittingly bedded his therapist's wife - isn't really beyond the bounds of credibility. What is surprising, taking into consideration the amount of duff sex-comedies (let alone comedy-dramas) this country is noted for, is that this small, almost perfectly formed ensemble piece should be so good.It's a slim premise with a life-changing outcome, and to reveal any more would risk giving away what those consequences are. Suffice to say, "It's amazing how one weekend can change your life." Through flashbacks, we discover that neurotic, sex-starved Cath (Sutcliffe) has invited carefree Everybloke Jamie (Scheinmann), a casual acquaintance, for a weekend at her friend's farmhouse in the seaside resort of West Wittering. She also invites steely actress Natasha (Cardinale) and her desperately trendy psychologist husband Greg (Annen) as a cover for her carnal intentions. As it transpires, it'll just be the three of them; back home, Natasha has locked Greg in her bathroom after she found some sexy lingerie in his pocket. ("He f****** betrayed me - and he's always lying to me about my tits.") During some cathartic boozing, a distraught Natasha admits she'd screw someone out of revenge, so when they've all tottered off to their separate bedrooms, Jamie (in a painfully familiar scenario that will have most men cringing in recognition) prises open the skylight of opportunity and seduces her. Wandering the corridors in a post-coital glaze, he's pounced on by a bottle-emboldened Cath - who all but clubs and drags him back to her own bedroom and has her way with him too.When the monstrous truth dawns the next morning, the sickened furies lash him naked to a table, cover him in root vegetables, and leave him there for a day and a half. Following the ordeal, he seeks the help of a therapist - whose name is Greg - and who, with mounting comprehension and through gritted teeth, summarises Jamie's situation thusly: "So to recap, you go away for the weekend with two women you hardly know, you insult them by not eating their food; they're drunk, one of them is emotionally vulnerable, one of them is a nymphomaniac... you take advantage of them both, you then tell another mate of this story with a certain amount of braggadocio and wit." Soon, Greg will be attending his own therapy class for Men Who Are Afraid Of Sex.So far, so British sex comedy. But West Wittering, devised by husband and wife team Danny Scheinmann and Sarah Sutcliffe (who also star, with Danny's brother David directing) elevates itself from those floppy ranks by dint of the fantastically honest and believable performances from its Edinburgh Fringe veterans, along with some brilliantly improvised dialogue - the culmination of three years workshopping.As Danny Scheinmann says, "We had not a single word written down. The actors were just told the story"; not even Mike Leigh allows his cast to improvise live to camera. All the cast are terrific, the male leads in particular. As Greg, Annen produces a truly twisted creation, a pretentious, passive-aggressive closet misogynist, wielding that all-purpose panacea, "closure", to his befuddled clients as if it were simply a pill you could buy over the counter.Scheinmann, too, is excellent at portraying a very common kind of British male, who while transparently sympathetic to noughties notions of masculinity has ultimately lost his bearings on a newly feminised gender map. Witness his: "Women in their thirties like a man who's dependable and faithful... now it just so happens I am that," or his assertion to Greg that, "I was able to keep up with both of them sexually because of the yogic breathing I do." There are some good sight gags too, such as Jamie sitting between the two contentedly purring women at breakfast the next morning, Jamie coring an apple and Natasha quietly and methodically slicing a banana into chunks. Lesser hands would have made more of it (and 1970s comedies would no doubt have accompanied it with some slide trombone and a penny whistle), but here it's a passing detail, so confident are the filmmakers in their overall set-up.Aside from functioning as a very English riposte to Steven Soderbergh's Sex, Lies And Videotape (or as a warmer-hearted Closer), closest comparisons might be drawn with Annie Griffin's similarly excellent 'The Book Group', for Channel 4, with its cast of highly-strung bed-hopping thirtysomethings.High praise must also go to editor Karoline Moser (this kind of non-linear drama has to be bullied into shape), who hacked down some 60 hours of footage into something useable; making Kath an obsessive video-diarist is also a clever way of illuminating the narrative without recourse to voice-over.
Chris Sendall
I saw this film in Cambridge on December 15th. I have three criteria by which I measure my enjoyment of a film. 1. Does it flow well? This film was well paced, no 'looking at the watch' moments. 90 minutes was the right length. 2. Do I care what happens to the characters? Yes, unlike the Guardian critic I found the characters likable. 3. Does it have a good ending? This one concluded well drawing all the strings together at the close. Using video made the characters more believable and the use of the very humorous sex therapy session provided an insight into the way the characters thought. It is well worth the watch and worth 4 stars not 3 in the Guardian. Well written, well directed and well acted.
Blakkandekka
Saw this in Cambridge last night. Normally the phrase "improvised low-budget British comedy" provokes a little trepidation, but I was very pleasantly surprised by "The West Wittering Affair", probably because of its being improvised by actors rather than professional comedians. Where some mega budget 'comedies' have left me stony faced this unpretentious little film had emotional depth, a genuinely warm heart and a couple of laugh out loud moments, mostly at the expense of the middle class obsession with therapy.'Low' doesn't quite do justice to the film maker's budget; 'micro' or possibly even 'nano-budget' might cover it. The limited resources are, however, put to good use with the necessarily close, claustrophobic locations adding to the drama while the occasional bit of creative DV camera work is used where necessary. The cast all do well and seem to be having fun throughout. So, you won't see big stars, special effects and sumptuous sets, but you will see a film that may make you feel a little better coming out than you did when you went in.
