The truth about men (aka. Separation City) 撮影（Klaus 役）
[ca.]
[Authentie]
【製作・配給会社のサイトのスティル写真】
Aus The Truth About Men - K5 Film
【ウェリントンで10月撮影開始、ベルリンでも撮影予定】
Filming of a bitter-sweet romantic comedy began in Wellington in October with investment from the NZFC and NZ On Air. Titled The Truth About Men, the feature has been written by political cartoonist and playwright Tom Scott, who is producing the film with Angela Littlejohn and Mark Overett.
The feature is the third to be directed by Australian-based New Zealander Paul Middleditch who has won an international reputation for his commercials. Danielle Cormack is the leading New Zealander in the cast. She plays Pam, the wife of the disillusioned and clumsy Simon, played by Australian Joel Edgerton. British actress Rhona Mitra is the musician who tempts him, and German Thomas Kretschmann (who was in the cast of King Kong) is the musician’s cheating husband. Other New Zealanders in the cast include Jodie Rimmer and Kate Harcourt.
Mike Horton will edit the film, which has Ian Aitken (Sione’s Wedding) as production designer and Steve Arnold (who shot Middleditch’s first two features) as director of photography. The feature will also be shooting in Berlin and is scheduled for release in late 2009. Hoyts will be the distributor in Australia and New Zealand, and the film has been pre-sold to the Netherlands, Belgium and Indonesia.
A co-production between New Holland Pictures (NZ) and Direct Hit Productions, The Truth About Men will be sold by K5 International.
【激しくネタばれなあらすじ。最終的にタイトルは Separation City に。主人公が浮気しそうになる相手（オランダ人チェロ奏者）の別れた旦那（やはりオランダ人）役らしい】
When they exchanged wedding vows they wrote themselves, adultery is the one thing Simon and Pam swore would never happen to them. In a world where failed and troubled relationships seemed to be the norm, by some miracle Simon had scored the smartest, hottest creature on the planet, and she hadn’t done badly either. They would never need or long for anyone else ever again.
That was before the kids arrived.
Pam’s nipples are cracked from breast-feeding. She feels dull and unattractive and is self-conscious about her body. For all intents and purposes libido might well be the capital of Portugal. Being a wife and mother while attending university part time leaves her constantly distracted and exhausted.
She accepts that Simon has physical needs and dutifully allows them to be met - provided he is quick. Simon becomes so efficient in this respect he fears he is turning into an accomplished premature ejaculator. Lately the prospect of exploring another woman’s body, one who wouldn’t mind losing a few pages if she read during sex, festers with intent at the edge of his every waking thought, but who?
Thanks to Pam’s training there are so many women he could disappoint. Like Kati, the beautiful Dutch woman who plays cello for the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.
Simon's deep-seated sexual performance anxiety is something he could raise at the men’s group his friend, the hapless intense Keith, wants to set up to examine gender equity issues, share feelings, and ask what it means to be male in the second Millennium. When Simon’s best mate, the cheerful, witty Harry, who refuses to take anything seriously, says the men’s group could be good for laugh, Simon agrees to attend.
Harry and Simon worked together as journalists in the Parliamentary Press Gallery, until Simon moved upstairs to become press secretary to Cabinet Minister and cheerful drunk, Archie Boyle.
Harry met Keith when their wives had adjoining beds in the maternity hospital.
At dinner one night Simon notices the recently separated utterly gorgeous Kati noticing him for the first time, and his heads swims with guilt and lust.
Kati’s separated husband, Klaus, also Dutch, joins the men’s group and is disarmingly frank about how badly he cheated on her, which only further persuades Simon that this precious fragile flower who smiles at him secretly from across the room needs protecting and comforting.
The beautiful confident Kati, who is constantly hit on by men, finds Simon’s clumsy chivalry curiously endearing. After a lot of shadow boxing they declare their feelings for each other and are both frightened by the intensity of their passion. Kati, realizing things have gone too far, wants to pull the plug. Simon argues you can’t end an affair that hasn’t been consummated. Consummation is attempted and is all over in a nanosecond.
The wretched Simon pleads for a second chance. When Kati mentions she is taking the children to Holland to see their grandmother, Simon has an idea. He will be in Amsterdam at the same time with Boyle, who is giving the keynote speech at conference on Global Warming. They can re-consummate the bungled consummation then.
At the men’s group, other husbands warn Klaus about allowing his estranged wife to take his children back to Holland, and Simon has to argue eloquently on the need for trust if relationships are ever to work.
When Boyle suggest Simon bring Pam to Amsterdam as a treat, Simon fobs him off, so Boyle goes behind his back to get Pam to the Dutch capital as surprise.
It’s a surprise all right. Simon is about to make love to Kati, when Pam, a bell hop with the champagne Simon has ordered, and the distraught Harry who has twigged to what is happening, gather outside his luxury suite.
It’s here where Simon’s genes controlling infidelity, and the male biological imperative to scatter seed far and wide, start to rapidly unravel…
Writer: Tom Scott
Director: Paul Middleditch
Producer: Mark Overett
NZ Producer: Barrie Osbourne
Status: Announced
Budget: $NZ 5.9m
Sales/Distro: Hoyts, Fu Works
Finance: New Zealand Film Fund, TVNZ, NZ on Air
Production: July 2008
New Holland Pictures/Direct Hit Co-production
Aus Separation City, New Holland Pictures
【12月段階ではもう撮影終わってポストプロダクション中】
The Vintner’s Luck, Under the Mountain, The Strength of Water, The Topp Twins and The Truth About Men are currently all in various stages of post-production.
Aus FEATURE FILM NEWS IN BRIEF..., NZ Film News December 2008, New Zealand Film Commision
