Sexual Failures on Screen

The stuff of which great British comedy is made

19.05.08 / This afternoon we were in a beachfront tent at a luncheon hosted by the UK Film Council. Talk tended to be about the lack of official festival offerings from some of the more established British directors (Leigh, Winterbottom, Figgis…) and about how much everyone liked Hunger by first-timer Steve McQueen, which just premiered in Cannes.Seated on the terrace, looking out at the sea, was another director with a likeable first feature at Cannes. In A Complete History of My Sexual Failures, Chris Waitt plays an independent filmmaker (himself) who goes around interviewing his ex-girlfriends (themselves). The idea seems to have been, “Why wallow by yourself in your sexual failures when you can make complete strangers laugh at them?”We ran into Chris again at the end of the day in the offices of Wild Bunch, who hope to sell his film’s distribution rights before the festival’s over. Chris came by with his girlfriend (you’ll see her in the film and saying any more about her might spoil the ending, so we won’t), and his producer, Henry Trotter. By tonight they’ll all be back in London, where Chris is finishing an edit of “an adult puppet show” for MTV.Chris couldn’t say much about his next feature, but we’re hoping for a sequel concerning his sexual successes. For his sake. — R.K.