Another Day in Paradise

1998

Johnny's comments:

In Corpore is an Australian movie made in 4 countries telling 4 different stories of love.

In Melbourne, Julia (Clara Francesca Pagone) arrives back home from New York to visit friends and family but she is struggling to gather up the strength to tell her parents that she is now married to a much older New York art critic after visiting Las Vegas. Julia and her parents are joined by her best friend Henri (Frank Fazio) and she tells them she married and it goes as badly as she expected. Julia sulks in her bed, joined by Henri who helps her through it, so much so that they have sex in the morning.

In Malta, Anna (Naomi Said) and Manny (Chris Dingli) are a married couple trying for a baby but it's not going well. Anna tells her Nina (Simone Alamango) that she is not interested in the job Nina suggested for her and also not ready to have a baby. Anna continues to have sex with Manny but he finds out that she is still taking the pill and they get into a massive argument.

In Berlin, Milana (Kelsey Gillis) and Rosalie (Sarah Timm) are a loved up couple but with lingering underlying issues that are about to come to the fore. Rosalie does not like Milana's job as a web cam model and this is not helped when one of her regular customers, Luca, keeps calling and texting her and now is coming to Berlin to spend a week with Milana and pay her a lot of money for the pleasure. Rosalie reluctantly lets her do it but absolutely does not want this to happen because she thinks Milana will leave her. Rosalie reacts to this by forcing herself onto Milana in a way that goes further than rough sex and into violence.

In New York, Julia is back with her husband Patrick (Timothy McCown Reynolds) and she tells him that she slept with her friend Henri. Despite being in an open relationship, this hits Patrick like a punch in the gut and struggles to get his head around it. Julia is about to have her first ever art show at Patrick's gallery and Patrick becomes snarky towards Julia, causing friction in their relationship. This is not helped when her friend Zara (Amelia Hunter) joins her in New York to see her exhibition and she doesn't like Julia's choices.

OK drama with some stories that are solid, if limited in scope, punctuated with some surprisingly intense sex scenes which become the main focus of at least two stories. The lesbian story is probably the most rounded story and has the most intense sex scenes, one erupting in violence which helped bring a realness to the story. Both actresses do a good job conveying a relationship teetering on the edge. Julia's stories are the least interesting, mainly focusing on her reluctance to tell people about a marriage in which she seems to spend a lot of time trying to convince herself that she has made the right decision not by how it affects her but how it affects other people. The dramatic tension in these stories is probably helped by having none of them resolved, but the film does abandon each story at a crucial point where a resolution might be helpful. Having said that, In Corpore is a not bad relationship drama, with strong acting from its four female leads, and relatable stories that are told in an interesting way.

Naomi Said film clip (sample below)

Clara Pagone film clip (sample below)

Kelsey Gillis and Sarah Timm film clip (samples below)