LANGUAGE OF LOVE (1969) was apparently quite groundbreaking for its day, basically the Scandinavian answer to Matt Cimber's MAN & WIFE and the first film to present explicit sex onscreen in Sweden. However, in contrast to its more prurient American cousin, LANGUAGE OF LOVE truly seems to have been made by folks who believed in what they were doing, resulting in a film that's 98% dialogue, 2% sex, and, in this reviewer's opinion, ungodly boring. The same team returns for this follow-up, though thankfully they seem to have figured out the formula for success in the interim, cutting down on gum-flapping and expanding the earlier film's vignette structure into a more diverse and interesting group of people.
Focus here, after the predecessor's strictly hetero, monogamous marriage manual structure, is sexual anomalies, and give the film credit, it's unafraid to go there quickly. Immediately following the titles, the returning sex researchers dive right into a discussion of homosexuality, and it's barely 10 minutes before the movie is presenting a totally uncensored view of gay lovers in flagrante. In pleasant addition to this sequence, however, is the footage that surrounds it: the couple hangs out in their apartment, cuddles, and acts intimate in a completely casual, normalizing way that's still rare to see today in media not specifically directed toward gay viewers.
Next segment covers a pair of lesbians and runs the risk of stylistic repetition, but handles things compassionately and effectively. Subsequent sections cover transvestism (and a bit about transgenderism), sex among the mentally and physically impaired, etc. The latter is particularly stunning, as the subject of sex among the handicapped is still a topic that makes people uncomfortable; yet, like all the rest of its segments, the film presents it with a remarkable amount of empathy and candor.
Things slow down a bit toward the end, which features a section on pornography and sex shows that feels like filler. Nevertheless, this was exactly the breath of fresh air I needed after so many crummy US exploitation pseudo-docs: a film that dedicates itself to covering non-mainstream subjects and does so with sensitivity, tact and - dare I say it? - even eroticism. I still haven't seen the final entry in the trilogy, LANGUAGE OF LOVE XYZ, but I hope it kept up the momentum, a vast improvement over the well-intentioned but stodgy first entry.
