William Feroldi | Inflatable Swamp / 2010

the void within

by Douglas Messerli

 

William Feroldi (screenwriter and director) Inflatable Swamp / 2010 [14 minutes]

 

The short films which I regularly review with full seriousness generally are reviewed by others in only a very few on-line and even fewer print sources, many of the commentators devoting only a

few lines of often quite amateurish comments. It’s clear what struck the reviewers of William Feroldi’s 2010 short film Inflatable Swamp was primarily the hunky hirsute Francis Beraud’s (titled in the credits as the “Resident”) almost constant nudity throughout the film and the sexual frankness with which British director William Feroldi treated his characters, who suck and fuck and bathe throughout nearly all of the 14-minute duration of the movie.

     Dave Hall of the Celluloid Review, for example, summarizes what I presume was the film’s original response:

 

“…For those with a-liking for male frontal nudity in their films - did anyone say no?, then it has to be said that this work ranks as one of the most copious monty works I've seen to date; certainly for the short film genre. And whilst it lacks the homoerotic intensity of the films of the like of Julián Hernández, amongst others, the beauty of this piece lies in its sense of reality, given here Feroldi sets out to speak, albeit in a laconic fashion, of the naked desire for human contact and whilst the emphasis is on the word naked, the narrative nevertheless sets out to showcase a man who by way of fate, is forced to see the life of the man in front of him; rather than just the body of his latest one-night stand. An emotional wake-up call, indeed.”

 

     Hall’s response, in comparison with others, was quite sophisticated. Yet he hadn’t quite detected, it seems to me, this wonderfully charming short film’s comic tone. Beraud is presented not so much as a “nude” individual but a strutting cock, in wait in his apartment for anyone who might take up his challenge to appear at his door with a blue balloon with an uninscribed label attached.

      The balloon floats temporarily to the bedroom ceiling where it waits out his short sexual encounters, mostly involved—if we are to believe the comments “the Resident” later attaches to the blue balloons—involve blowjobs, also revealing his sexual partners’ cock size. These blue balloons, surely like the “blue balls” he seems to fear if he doesn’t have endless sex, serve as trophies of his conquests. The bathroom ceiling is filled with blue balloons, perhaps among many previous others who have popped or lost their air.

      In this “inflatable swamp” the denizen of the deep desire comes up for air simply to swallow down a protein shake, desiring perhaps but refusing the rich chocolate cake he also has at the ready.

      The first “conquest” (Edwin Ray) we observe our libidinal hero recording, he describes the man still in the apartment, as a “6-inch average sucker.”

      The Resident hardly has time for his bath and a shake before his next sexual partner, Luke (Paul Huntley), shows up at the door, blue balloon in hand.

     The balloon goes to the ceiling almost a quickly and the new guest’s pants are unzipped. It begins with apparently the standard, fellatio. But Beraud soon pulls him into bed, as Luke, donning a condom, begins to fuck the hunk. In the midst of the act, however, he becomes weak and pulls out a blood test kit, evidence that he is diabetic. Our naked hero rushes to the kitchen to bring back one of the delicious slices of chocolate cake he previously resisted, handing to his new sexual partner, who gratefully devours it.

 

 

      Like a cave man or a creature of some hidden lagoon suddenly discovering the existence of the “other,” Beraud finally takes a finer to wipe away some of the chocolate icing which he has so long refused off the other man’s lips, speaking the first lines of the movie: “What did you say your name was again?”

      For the first time in his life, in this comic parody, a sexual conquest has become a person, a man with a delicious treat on his tongue who is also willing to fuck instead of suck. The empty man seems to have found someone to help fill up the void within.

 

Los Angeles, October 18, 2024

Reprinted from My Queer Cinema blog (October 2024).