A sunny morning in London? The very rarity of that phenomenon is material for comedy, and the bright sunshine outside the flat of the depressed Duncan makes for comedic contrast. Duncan is writing a suicide note addressed to his five ex-girlfriendsand will finish the job if ever can find a pen that works. “I hope you’re all very happy,” he writes sarcastically, though upon reflection, he considers that he might be blameworthy for at least several of those failed affairs.
Out on DVD, My Last Five Girlfriends is Duncan’s chronicle of those failures, sometimes enacted in a theme park called Duncan World. It’s an appropriate setting for the rollercoaster ride of love. Directed by Julian Kemp from Alain de Botton’s bestseller On Love, My Last Five Girlfriends stars Brendan Patricks as Duncan, playing his role with the bemused wit of a young Hugh Grant. Brimming with dry British irony and increasingly hilarious visualizations of Duncan’s dilemmas, My Last Five Girlfriends investigates the deception endemic to romance, the awkward opening moments, the boundaries and expectations, the navigation through differences. Is love as understood in the West a cultural construct? “We’re all just playing out scenes we’ve seen in films,” Duncan declares in deep sulk. They must have been pretty good movies because Duncan returns to the plotline again and again.
