There is an expression: same same, but different. Many people get t-shirts with it brandished on from Thailand or Bali. Lots of locals use the expression to say this food is going to be basically the same as what you are used to, but a little bit different.
Nude Tuesday (dir. Armağan Ballantyne) tells a same same story, two people stuck in a relationship they may not want to be in. The “but different” part is that story is told in a made-up semi-improvised language.
Laura (Jackie van Beek, also one of the writers and producers) is in a funk around her life and marriage. She is married to Bruno (Damon Herriman) who feels emasculated by Laura cheating on him but wants to keep the relationship together for the kids.
During a party, Bruno’s mum gifts the couple with tickets to Ẅønđeulä, a couples retreat where they are meant to learn how to connect better with each other and strip the relationship down.
They travel to the rural setting and are greeted by many much more sexually adventurous and open couples. The retreat is led by Borg (Jemaine Clement), whose size and sexual confidence Laura finds alluring.
As the couple starts to let go and embrace the teachings of the retreat they find many elements of themselves and their relationship that aren’t working or that they want to fix.
It all comes to a head on the eponymous Nude Tuesday where the couple finally nails down what they want and how they are going to move forward.
Middle-aged people having relationship issues isn’t a new story, you probably have friends going through it right now. The surreal and absurdist couples retreat does create some humorous moments. Van Beek and Merriman play off each other very well and there is a sweetness to their relationship. Clement is by the most captivating person on screen- he just has more charm and presence and he is also much bigger and takes up more of the screen real estate.
The trouble I find with this film is that is too much “same same” and not enough “but different”. Borg is set up to be a messiah and then a fraud, but it all happened too soon so the ending didn’t feel earned. The nudity gives some shock value and all of the actors were very brave to go the full monty or the Nude Tuesday as it were.
There were some laughs and it is a sweet film but I would suggest just having your own Nude Tuesday instead.
9 June 2022
Luke McMeeken-Ruscoe