Rob Munday
Relationships are challenging. This may not be a groundbreaking revelation for most, but it is a truth that often bears repeating. As individuals grow and change, their bond evolves too, requiring effort to sustain it. In Alex Bliss’ thought-provoking short film, A Real, Sexual Relationship, a thirty-something couple faces this reality head-on, when their differences become glaringly apparent after a little anniversary sex leaves one partner feeling violated.
With the goal of creating a movie about “being in a relationship as you enter your thirties,” Bliss explains in a Q&A for the film’s Vimeo Staff Pick Premiere that he aimed to capture the “abrupt shift in stakes” that occurs during this time. Recognising that this is a period when we start confronting mortality and the ticking of our biological clocks, Bliss, along with co-writers and stars Edy Modica and Eric Rahill, crafted a film that explores what happens when “one partner chooses to lean into that maturity, while the other may reject it.”
The couple at the core of Bliss’ story seem happy at first, but that contentment changes as the film unravels.
Immediately immersing its audience in the on-screen couple’s relationship, the film initially portrays a happy scene as they celebrate their anniversary with a session of morning sex. Dialogue is sparse in these opening moments, but after an embarrassing incident at the store, Bliss and his team shift the focus to the couple’s conversations as the pair try to work through their differences.
Admitting, again in that Vimeo Q&A, that he struggles with dialogue, Bliss turned to the improvisational talents of lead actors Modica and Rahill to drive the conversations and enhance the authenticity. Providing limited instructions between takes, the director believes that “withholding little things from actors” can be advantageous. Instead, he suggests “playing them off each other, taking them to a quiet room and sharing a weirdly personal anecdote, whispering directions in their ear” to elicit the best performances.
As the film concludes, Bliss offers no definitive resolution for his divergent couple, leaving the audience to ponder their future. Beginning and ending in a similar manner, A Real, Sexual Relationship presents a very specific situation yet resonates through its relatability. Observing this pair’s attempts to make things work, viewers will likely find themselves identifying with one partner more than the other and it’s this personal reflection that is the short’s most powerful attribute.