Sirens is an
atmospheric, adult, character study taking place in Australia
in the 1930's. A young Anglican vicar, dispatched by his
clerical superior, leaves England for Australia, accompanied
by his lovely wife, for the purpose of meeting with a renegade
artist and attempting to dissuade him from including his most
controversial painting in a scheduled public exhibition.
Although the clergy
have never been particularly happy with the artist's
paintings, replete with cavorting sensual nudes, they were
very definitely opposed to the public display of "The
Crucifixion of Venus", a disturbingly erotic depiction of
a beautiful nude woman being nailed to a cross.
Arriving in a remote
Australian town nestled in the rugged beauty of the great
outdoors, the vicar and his wife lodge with the artist in his
unconventional household. The artist's wife, and several young
women who live on the grounds, model nude for the artist, as
does the man who lives nearby in the wilds.
During the ensuing
week the vicar tries to reason with his host concerning the
public display of the painting, but the artist will not be
stopped. Slowly, the vicar's wife falls under the spell of
this new, uninhibited environment, succumbing to erotic
fantasies and invariably allowing herself to be drawn into
various sexual encounters.
On an afternoon
walk, the vicar witnesses his wife involved in one such
escapade on the bank of a pond. When he implies later that he
saw her, their relationship is tested. Ultimately, she comes
back to her former sensibilities, refraining from further
infidelities but continuing her fantasies, which brings a
newfound sensuality to her relationship with her husband.
Although animal
action is very mild, a wide variety of animals are represented
in this film, several of which are indigenous to Australia.
For example, you see quick shots of a Koala bear, a Wallaby
and a Kangaroo. The camera just recorded their natural
behavior. There is a shot with a lizard on a table, another
with a spider on a painting and still another shot of a snake
crawling on a table and knocking off a cup of tea. The cup was
a prop and did not fall on the snake. Other animals adding to
the atmosphere include a peacock in a garden and horses
standing by a church.
There is one shot of
a dog growling at a woman which was achieved by the trainer
giving verbal cues off camera with food as a reward. In other
scenes a dog is shown walking, an actor holds a small dog, and
a grasshopper jumps into camera range. Finally, there is a
shot where a man slaps his neck, supposedly killing a
mosquito. This was achieved with sound affects and a fake
mosquito which had had stage blood applied to it and was
placed in the actor's hand.
