There’s no charm in ‘Threesome’
The new HBOMax doc may shine a light, but its subjects are a turn off.
Regardless of your opinions on the idea of having an ‘open relationship’ the new HBOMax doc, ‘There is no ‘I’ in Threesome’ is eye catching at first because it ventures into the world of a subject considered taboo by most.
With so much porn available there isn’t really a need to tune in for the sex, but rather for the intricacies of how one New Zealand couple, Ollie and Zoe Lucks, attempts to navigate their sexual journey of attempting to have an open marriage for the year leading up to their wedding date.
The film begins with a scene of Ollie and Zoe stripping naked on a high dive, equipped with GoPro cameras and nothing else before counting down from 10 and jumping into a pool far below their naked feet.
There is just one problem. One of them doesn’t jump. It’s an apt symbol for what is to follow as this couple, bonded by an impenetrable, for lack of a better term, love, leaps off into the sexual oblivion.
Moments later Ollie stares up at his future wife who refused to jump. It’s ironic actually because when the couple, forced to live long distance due to Zoe’s ‘blossoming’ acting career, actually begins the process of looking for other partners it is she who unsurprisingly has a much easier time finding willing male and female partners who don’t mind that she is engaged and in an open relationship.
Meanwhile due to the difficulties inherent in being a man attempting to do the same the, Ollie actually kicks off his new found freedom by revisiting his bi-sexual past. Sadly, that also ends in disappointing dates for him while she appears, based on a few sexy montages, not to be having any trouble at all.
The premise is sound. It’s intriguing even if you don’t subscribe to the idea personally. It’s like watching a couple engage in any activity that threatens to punch holes in the institution of marriage. We’d have fewer divorces if people were secure enough to tackle these all too common issues.
It was around this time that I paused the show turned to my wife and said, ‘I’m good.’ Which is our signal for saying I’m fine if you want to watch something else because I’ve lost interest.
The surprising thing is that this stoppage in play didn’t occur due to the premise, but in a large part the execution. Granted the creators should be awarded full marks for inviting cameras and audio equipment into every facet of their lives.
Unfortunately the larger issue with the doc are the subjects themselves. I would venture to say it was somewhere during the countdown to their leap off the high dive that the viewer gets the first pangs of, ‘I don’t care about these people.’
And for a doc or a story to survive the audience must care in some way about the subjects. The care might be love or it might be intense hatred, but indifference is not an option.
Ollie seems at times like he is 100% invested in the idea, but ill-equipped to pull it off. Which isn’t a character flaw at all it almost is endearing, but when compared with the hedonistic success of Zoe he comes off as slightly pathetic. At one point he is even watching Zoe via Zoom with another man and then attempts to chat with the guy post-coitus while Zoe steps away.
Zoe on the other hand seems to have no self awareness about how annoying she is walking through a sex shop and making off the cuff remarks about one sex toy after another. Except she’s not funny and her preoccupation with getting her rocks off seems to come at the expense of not caring at all that Ollie is not. It’s hard to see the love she feels for Ollie.
It would seem in order to pull this off successfully there would need to be some care on the part of the new lovers as well. They should be aware of what they are stepping into and show consideration for it.
All we’re left with is the lingering feeling that Zoe didn’t jump with him and she doesn’t seem to instill in her new lovers that respect for Ollie is part of the prerequisite for having sex with her.
And that’s not to say Ollie would show any more concern, but as of the moment we shut it off he hadn’t yet accomplished his desired goal with anyone other than himself after watching Zoe and her lover and then being instructed to ‘finish himself off.’
It doesn’t feel very loving.
If any couple was turning this on with the hope of sparking a conversation about this lifestyle in their own lives it may end up doing more damage than good.
I’m sure Ollie and Zoe go on to have many adventures and in the end they either get married or don’t and remain open or they don’t, but we won’t be around to see it either way because they’re far too irritating to watch and care about.
It’s actually kind of shocking that HBO, a company so skilled at offering quality content would air this, but in the age of Covid when couples are being challenged in unprecedented ways one can understand why they took the plunge.
‘There is no ‘I’ in Threesome’ is streaming now on HBO Max’
