Portrait Of A Serial Monogamist (US DVD Review)

Starring: Diane Flacks, Carolyn Taylor, Vanessa Dunn, Robin Duke, Gavin Crawford
Director: John Mitchell, Christina Zeidler
Running Time: 94 mins
Certificate: NR
Release Date: February 2nd 2016 (US DVD/VoD)

Elsie (Diane Flacks) has been with her girlfriend for five years, but they haven’t had sex in months and she feels that it’s time to move on. Elsie is known for being a serial monogamist, jumping from one relationship to the next, without ever spending the time to work on herself or be single. And there’s also the nagging suspicion that it may also be a way for her to avoid having to really work on a relationship when it gets difficult.

After her break-up, Elsie is challenged to spend the next five months on her own, something that immediately becomes difficult when she meets DJ and photographer Lolli (Vanessa Dunn). Elsie feels a spark between them and immediately put herself into the middle of what is essentially a faux-relationship, but things quickly get complicated as she doesn’t really know what she wants – and the conflicting advice of her friends doesn’t help.

This lesbian-themed Canadian rom-com is the sort of film that sets out to put a smile on your face and it does that with aplomb. Thanks to a generally light tone, a witty script and some good actors, it entertains while making a few salient points about modern relationships. It’s particularly interested in whether in the modern world relationships can become somewhat disposable – especially if you don’t have the ties of marriage and children, as well as if you underestimate the impact your actions might have on others.

Diane Flacks as Elsie has a pretty tough job, as the fact the character rather nonchalantly dumps her girlfriend of five years and then attempts to escape any of the fallout, could have made her an unpleasant person that you don’t particularly want to see redeemed. But thanks to the script and Flacks, you can understand where Elsie’s coming from and that she’s not being actively cruel, just naïve, self-absorbed and pretty confused about what her life is all about.

She is surrounded by some great women, all of whom have their own take on what Elsie should be doing, and many of whom are given space to be funny and interesting. Indeed, it’s the sort of film Hollywood needs to take note of, to prove to them that you don’t need men on screen to make a good movie.

I have to admit that at the beginning I was wondering whether this was going to be one of those rare anti-rom coms, where the character was going to learn that she is actually able to be single and happy. Although it isn’t quite that (which is a little bit of a shame, to be honest), it’s still smart and funny, and the ending that it does come up with certainly makes sense, even if it is just a tiny bit convenient.

Overall Verdict: A great little lesbian-themed rom-com, which will make you laugh and sometimes think, as it takes you into the life of a woman she needs to work out what she actually wants from a relationship.

Reviewer: Tim Isaac

https://vimeo.com/144531069