Love Serenade MPAA Rating: R Entertainment: +2 1/2 Content: -2

This quirky black comedy is set in rural Australia during the 1980s. The lives of sisters Dimity (Miranda Otto) and Vicki-Ann (Rebecca Frith), who share a small bungalow in Sunray, have become bleak. Bossy Vicki-Ann owns a beauty shop in town, while seemingly shy Dimity works nights at the Chinese restaurant. When Ken Sherry (George Shevtsov), a disc jockey from Brisbane, drives into town, the sisters compete for Ken's affections. He discovers too late that his love-starved neighbors aren't so harmless after all. This most unusual tale is much too worldly for teenagers.

With only one obscenity and one violent act, LOVE SERENADE's content is surprisingly mild. But as soon as Ken invites Dimity into his house, the action becomes spicy. With no previous sexual experience, she brazenly offers herself to Ken to ease his loneliness, and proceeds to remove her clothes, with full breast nudity shown. The next morning he invites her back to ease his loneliness again, and thereafter sex is implied as a daily occurrence. Only once, however, are they shown in bed having sex beneath the covers. Vicki-Ann eventually succeeds in winning over Ken, and they too are shown in bed once, but without nudity. The love-weary man has no conscious as he flits from one sister to the other, taking advantage of their desperate search for love. Neither do the sisters show any conscience as they get their revenge, which results in the film's one act of violence. In fact, the only moral character is a middle-aged bachelor named Albert whose old-fashioned ideas are treated comically. The sisters' immorality and their lack of respect for life never result in negative consequences; life just goes on. This positive portrayal of offensive behavior gives discerning viewers little reason to see LOVE SERENADE.

Preview Reviewer: Mary Draughon
Distributor: Miramax Films, 375 Greenwich, NY, NY 10013