Watch The Little Death

The Little Death is a 2014 Australian comedy-drama film that explores the various quirks, fetishes, and taboos of human sexuality. The film is directed and written by Josh Lawson, who also stars in it alongside Bojana Novakovic and Damon Herriman. The movie unfolds as a series of vignettes, interconnected by the themes of intimacy and desire, with each story delving into the different facets of sexual fantasies and their underlying emotional complexities.

The movie's title, which refers to the French phrase "la petite mort" meaning "the little death," is an allusion to the feeling of post-orgasmic release that some individuals experience. However, the film expands on this concept, depicting how individuals lose themselves in their sexual experiments and obscure fetishes, often at the cost of their relationships and personal well-being.

The opening scene of the movie sets the tone for what's to come, introducing us to Maeve (Bojana Novakovic), a woman with a fetish for asphyxiation. She hires a reluctant plumber named Paul (Josh Lawson) to help her fulfill her desires. This leads to a comedic yet macabre sequence of events that establishes the movie's quirky sense of humor.

From there on, the movie plunges into different stories, each depicting a different kind of sexual fetishism. The second story features a married couple, Dan (Damon Herriman) and Evie (Kate Box), who are struggling with their sex life. Dan harbors a secret desire for his wife to pretend that she's dead during sex, but when he makes his request, he is profoundly shocked by the result.

The third story revolves around a man named Richard (Patrick Brammall) who has a particularly unusual fetish. He finds pleasure in listening to his girlfriend Simone (Lisa McCune) recounting her sexual past experiences in vivid detail. Simone, who initially agrees to indulge his fetish, eventually feels uncomfortable sharing such intimate stories and begins to question the health of their relationship.

The fourth story centers around a young Chinese woman named Monica (Kim Gyngell) who hires a hitman to kill her disabled husband. Ironically, her husband's disability is what fuels Monica's sexual desires, and she finds that she can't be with anyone else as long as he's alive. However, when the hitman arrives, things don't go quite as planned.

The fifth and final story deals with the sexual frustrations of a couple named Phil (Alan Dukes) and Maureen (Genevieve Hegney). They seek the help of a therapist (TJ Power) who specializes in unconventional methods to help them reignite the spark in their relationship.

Overall, The Little Death is a daring and audacious film that explores the darker, more taboo side of human sexuality in a frank and unapologetic manner. It's a film that isn't afraid to tackle difficult subject matter with humor and sensitivity, weaving an intricate tapestry of human desires that range from humorous to shocking, often within the same scene. The film's climax brings together all of the movie's threads, as the characters' stories intersect in unexpected ways, making for an unpredictable and satisfying conclusion.

The Little Death is a 2015 drama with a runtime of 1 hour and 35 minutes. It has received mostly poor reviews from critics and viewers, who have given it an IMDb score of 7.0 and a MetaScore of 46.