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A Complete History of My Sexual Failures
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A Complete History of My Sexual Failures
IDFA 2008

A Complete History of My Sexual Failures

Chris Waitt
England
2008
93 min
Festival history

Humour isn't always the protagonist in documentaries, but it is in this film by Chris Waitt, who visits his ex-girlfriends to ask them a question that's as painful to them as it is to the filmmaker: Why did you dump me? It's a cleverly composed personal story that often makes the viewer wonder how much is real and how much is dramatised. We watch Chris handing old love letters back to their writer, who feels slightly embarrassed. Would you like to go out with me again some time? No, she wouldn't. But what's the problem? She bursts into a fit of anger, addressing both his egocentric behaviour and his obvious erection problems.
The filmmaker further elaborates the latter theme: after various failed forms of therapy, he decides to start taking Viagra. When this doesn't help, he takes a lot of pills at once, mixing them with a generous quantity of beer. In the end, he has a prolonged erection and starts asking perfect strangers in the street if they want to sleep with him. In addition to humour, the film also contains some moving scenes, such as when he confronts the only ex he had a long relationship with. In the end, we see the film as a serious document of a chaotic love life.

Credits
Director
World Sales
    Wild Bunch
    Wild Bunch
Distribution for the Netherlands
    September Film Distribution
    September Film Distribution
Screening copy
    Wild Bunch
    Wild Bunch