How To Please A Woman flips the script on female pleasure
(From left) Hayley McElhinney, Tasma Walton, Sally Phillips and Caroline Brazier in How To Please A Woman
Naughty Australian comedy How To Please A Woman follows Gina (Sally Phillips), a fifty-something-year-old stuck in a passionless marriage. When a stripper (her surprise birthday gift) promises to do anything she wants, she takes him at his word and requests he clean her house. This unexpected visit later sparks a light-bulb moment in which the recently made redundant businesswoman transforms a moving company into an all-male house cleaning business with a little something on the side. Spoiler alert: it’s not just cleaning on offer!
First-time feature writer and director Renée Webster flips the script on sex. Inspired by a true story, Webster challenges the pleasure gap with the portrayed female clients taking control of their sexual experiences to seek out a “decent root”. Through a female lens, the filmmaker conducts a sensual lesson by drawing our eyes to caressing hands and warm embraces, criticising porn culture for its perpetuation of unrealistic standards for both sexes. Here, the men are the ones saying, “I just don’t feel like it,” as the female appetite is satisfied.
This is not a feminist revenge film. Men are objectified, yes, but with their consent. “Stop” means stop and there is no shortage of gentle reassurances from the women, such as, “You don’t have to if you don’t want to.”When asked “Did you feel exploited?”, the movers-turned-cleaners unashamedly admit they “loved it.”
British national treasure Phillips (Shazza of Bridget Jones’s Diary fame) devotes herself to Gina’s emotional journey. Whilst not the lively performance we’re used to seeing from the actress, she layers doubt and desperation under Gina’s professional drive, as the wife and mother struggles to have her needs met by her dismissive husband, Adrian (Cameron Daddo) – an all-too-common dilemma married heterosexual women face. As co-leading lady, Hayley McElhinney (The Babadook) grounds the drama in empathy as she teaches her servicer Anthony (Ryan Johnson) how to “listen with your body”.
Writer and director Renée Webster on set in her hometown of Leighton Beach, Western Australia
Webster’s inclusive casting and female direction puts a body-positive spin on the frank narrative about sexuality in later life. In multiple scenes in a shared changeroom, the director showcases – not sexualises – the beauty of the female form in all its various shapes and sizes. There is no ageism, racism, homophobia or biphobia. In one way or another, this is a film for every woman.
Erik Thomson (800 Words), portrays the shy and self-conscious Steve, the owner of said moving company. Although predictable, his evolving relationship with Gina adds a tenderness to the racier aspects of How To Please A Woman. Meanwhile, AACTA Award-nominee Alexander England is nothing less than likeable as the kind and docile Tom. Josh Thomson (Ben) and Johnson (Anthony) own the cheeky script with their line deliveries and expressions. Together, they’re not armed with six packs and ginormous egos, but an openness and sensitivity – something that would certainly please a woman.
“Sometimes you just need several great shags to get your mojo back”
Aside from a title that’s on the nose, the adultery makes this a hard story to swallow. What is right – a woman seeking out sexual pleasure – is contorted into something wrong as clients seem to have as little regard for marriage vows as men have for housework. Despite the given justifications, depending on personal beliefs, it’s sometimes difficult to bask in the more fun aspects of pleasure when there is a partner being unknowingly hurt in the process. If you can overlook the amorality – and the guys’ lack of basic cleaning skills – you will delight in their personal gain.
Unfortunately, the sound design is subpar. Distracting choices, including jumping between diegetic and non-diegetic sound in the middle of a scene, artificialises the humour. Shot in Fremantle and Perth, Western Australia, the loud calling of native birds, even when characters are indoors, serves as a constant reminder that you’re watching an Australian film. Obvious ADR (Automated Dialogue Replacement) forces us to question whether an Australian actress wouldn’t have been better suited to the role, with Gina’s Britishness only referenced to highlight her prudishness.
Alexander England as removals-turned-stripper Tom
For a film about cleaning, the comedy is unabashedly filthy, with a screenplay full of sexual innuendos, such as being “good at skirting boards” and getting into “every crevice”. Visual metaphors of steamy irons say what doesn’t need to be said. But rather than leaving the viewer feeling dirty, Webster leaves us – man or woman – feeling empowered to ask for what we deserve.
“Your pleasure is worth asking for”
How to Please a Woman is about more than one woman’s sexual awakening. With its minor plot holes that sweep the climax quickly under the dusty rug, the dramedy will either gratify your needs or rub you the wrong way. Whether you’re the target audience or not, everyone could learn a thing or two.