Tim Hunter | Working It Out / 2007

the black speedo

by Douglas Messerli

 

Tim Hunter (screenwriter, based on his stage play, and director) Working It Out / 2007 [6 minutes]

 

Gay comedies about spousal cheating do not represent my favorite genre, and I am afraid that although I sometimes find them momentarily fun in their nasty put-downs of marital constancy, they leave a truly unpleasant after taste.

     Australian director Tim Hunter’s comedy Working It Out at least presents the cheating game from both sides of the room. Gay couple Peter and Marcus meet up for an evening workout before their dinner of Thai chicken.

      But already in the changing room, one of them has had eyes for another bloke, Jeremy who appears out of nowhere. By the time they’ve begun their exercises, they already mutually bickering as long-term couples are prone to do, Marcus, having noticed the look Jeremy gave to his partner wonders out loud who he is, Peter pretending to know nothing about him, just a guy he’s noticed about. After a few moments of further give-and-take remarks, Peter admits to having previously spoken him, admits that he finds him attractive, and has observed that he wears a black Speedo in the pool. But, he insists, just because he’s spoken to him does not mean that he’s sucked his cock and had sex with him.

      Inevitably, the conversation turns to other accusations, Peter suggesting that Marcus might be a little more outgoing (“I come here to work out, not to socialize or pig out,” is his comeback) and Marcus arguing that it’s clear even if he hasn’t had sex with him, he clearly wants to.

      Peter ultimately calls Marcus jealous, which he admits he may be. Peter suggests they could have a threesome, but Marcus says that wouldn’t want a threesome with the two of them. And so it goes, the back-and-forth attacks and imagined sins of both partners.

   When Jeremy comes and joins them on the treadmill beside where they’re working out, Peter introduces Marcus and himself, suggesting he’s never told him his name.

      In the shower, finally, Jeremy meets up with Marcus, relaying his apologies since he didn’t know he (Peter) was his boyfriend: “Is it problem?” Marcus tells of him of Peter’s idea about a threesome, of which Jeremy seems most interested. But Marcus suggests, “Why spoil a good thing?” They kiss and plan to meet up next Thursday when Peter has a meeting.

      In the steam room, meanwhile, we see Peter, touching his cock as he awaits Jeremy’s arrival. The man in the black Speedo soon appears.

     The most profound thing you can say about this comedic gesture is that it reiterates the notion that gay men are inherently unable to maintain monogamous relationships. Not only do I doubt the truth of that—although it is certainly likely that gay men of a certain generation before AIDS, when marriage was not possible and sex an easy alternative for urban gays, might have found it difficult to alter their behavior when marriage became a possibility—but from the looks of heterosexual divorce rates, it appears that heterosexual couples have never been very good at maintaining look-term relationships either. Perhaps just an open admission and acceptance of occasional outside sex might resolve many of the problems about sex outside of a relationship. As many have long argued, the human animal has never developed a gene for sexual exclusivity. Maybe a threesome might be a better solution than a gay couple secretly sharing a fortunate outsider. It’s the lies, the pleasure of the secret that most interferes with solid relationships, gay, lesbian, or heterosexual. I wonder, do bisexuals make for more honest mates, or do they hide their bisexuality, being tempted by absolutely any beautiful person who they may meet?

 

Los Angeles, May 8, 2023

Reprinted from World Cinema Review (May 2023).