Taglines: Pleasure is a serious business.
How to Please a Woman Movie Storyline. Fifty and fabulous is not what Gina is feeling. She is numbed by a life she didn’t envisage. Her job, her marriage, does not excite her. She’s in a rut. When her ocean-loving friends organise for a stripper to visit her home as a birthday surprise, little did Gina know that it would be a spark that ignites and takes her on an unfamiliar journey, learning as she goes, on the road to getting her mojo back!
But, as her business booms, her clientele demands something more – sex, or better yet, pleasure. Faced with something far more than she imagined, Gina and her team, including her foodie manager Steve, launch an enterprise that is all about getting intimacy right between people.
For the first time, the women experience desire on their own terms. As Gina faces the highs and lows, the joys and struggles of maintaining such a unique business, she learns to stand up for herself, to look out for her own happiness and pleasure, and to take control of her life. How to Please a Woman is a precarious, often hilarious and revealing journey into the vulnerable world of what women really want and how hard it can be to get it right.
Film Review for How to Please a Woman
Fifty and fabulous is not what Gina is feeling. She is numbed by a life she didn’t envisage. Her job, her marriage, does not excite her. She’s in a rut. When her ocean-loving friends organise for a stripper to visit her home as a birthday surprise, little did Gina know that it would be a spark that ignites and takes her on an unfamiliar journey, learning as she goes, on the road to getting her mojo back!
British actor Sally Phillips headlines this Australian film set in Western Australia. She aims to please in her role as Gina the good housewife to her husband Adrian, played by Cameron Daddo and the hard worker at the liquidation firm where she works, yet she is invisible to both. The one pleasure in her life is going for morning swims in the ocean with her group of friends. To cheer her up, they organise a birthday surprise and arrange for a stripper to turn up at her door. However, things continue to unravel when Gina is laid off from her job and is faced with the prospect of starting over again.
She decides to take over a failing removal business to turn it into a legit cleaning business, which also helps keep the employees of the removal business employed. However when the cleaning turns to sexual favours and her client base starts to grow, Gina realises she may have more than she bit off on her hands.
This film is easily an instant comedy classic but it also touches on a few real-life issues women face every day. It delights as much as it moves. It displays female characters on screen, without referencing the usual tropes of ageing and parenthood. Having now seen the film, I couldn’t think of anyone better than British comic actor Sally Phillips as Gina. She’s just your ordinary everyday woman we can all identify with. Dejected and invisible, she is small and crumpled, coiled tight like a spring about to explode. As her happiness grows, her presence glows on film. She is the breath of the film.
Sally takes us through Gina’s pain and longing with her expressive performance. Her cries in the ocean, so loud in its silence, it’s gut-wrenchingly identifiable. Her skills as a dramatic actor refuse to go unnoticed. The supporting cast are all wonderful and provide the camaraderie and humour that surrounds and makes this film whole. Alexander England as Tom just makes you smile. He is warm and shiny, like a sunrise. He embodies charm, charisma and comedy easily, with built in good looks and dance moves.
Watch out for the stellar scene between Sally Phillips and Erik Thomson as they both give their desires a run for their money. If you’re after a feel-good movie that makes you chuckle and laugh out loud, while reeling you back in dramatically every now and again, with beautiful expanses of water, beaches and Western Australian scenery in the background that makes it distinctly Aussie, this has to be it.
How to Please a Woman (2022)
Directed by: Renée Webster
Starring: Sally Phillips, Erik Thomson, Alexander England, Ryan Johnson, Josh Thomson, Cameron Daddo, Tasma Walton, Caroline Brazier, Hayley McElhinney, Liam Graham, Emily Rose Brennan
Screenplay by: Renée Webster
Production Design by: Emma Fletcher
Cinematography by: Ben Nott
Film Editing by: Merlin Eden
Costume Design by: Lisa Galea Gunning
Set Decoration by: Christine Lynch
Art Direction by: Charlotte Bayly, Emily Healey
Music by: Guy Gross
MPAA Rating: None.
Distributed by: Brainstorm Media
Release Date: July 22, 2022
Views: 35
