What sort of people engage in recreational group sex on a regular basis? David Schisgall's documentary The Lifestyle provides one answer: mostly cheerful, but paunchy, suburban couples who have either slipped into middle age or are starting to advance past it. For the most part, they look like normal workaday folks, and could even be your neighbors. Schisgall interviews 20 members of "swinging" groups in Orange County, CA, and discovers most are happily married (often for decades), politically lean a bit right of center (several of his subjects once had careers in the military), and are personally unremarkable once you get past their "hobby." The Lifestyle also reveals why AIDS is all but unknown in "swing" circles and takes a trip to a "Lifestyles" convention where fun seekers from around the country get to know each other (in more ways than one). Portraying its subjects with an affectionate sense of humor, The Lifestyle was premiered at the 1999 Los Angeles Independent Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Review by All Movie Guide
All Movie Guide
is neutral about it.
The Lifestyle is eye-opening and often quite funny, but never delivers the incisive exploration of this subculture that it promises. Despite the willingness of the participants to literally bare all for the camera, the filmmakers never manage to get any further than their surface attitudes and behaviors. The big problem is that David Schisgall allows the participants to speak without guidance instead of subjecting them to a carefully crafted interview process -- as a result, they devote their interview time to a lot of well-rehearsed "free love" platitudes that sound good but ultimately don't add up to much. As a result, their lifestyle is no less mysterious at the end than it was at the beginning and this makes The Lifestyle an ultimately unsatisfying experience. That said, patient fans of unusual documentaries will be rewarded with some memorably surreal sights if they stick with the film, including a visit to a colorful swinger's convention and a "swing party" finale that suggests the orgy scene from
Eyes Wide Shut as directed by
David Lynch. However, moments like these are as frustrating as they are intriguing because they hint at the daring documentary that could have been. As a result, The Lifestyle isn't likely to interest anyone other than curiosity seekers. ~ Donald Guarisco, All Movie Guide