"Provocative Interlude for Adults"

There's a decidedly feminist twist to this Australian bedroom romp in which Cynthia (Susie Porter) meets Josh (David Wenham) at a party. She's an attractive, intelligent costume-designer and he's an amiable, career-minded National Geographic wildlife photographer who is planning to fly back to London in three days.

They don't connect immediately but sharing a taxi home, she impulsively decides to invite him up to her cluttered, one-room apartment at 342 Hibernia House in a Sydney suburb. She's attracted to "his relaxed magnetism." And, besides, she explains, "He made me laugh, and I liked that."

A casual one-night stand soon turns into an intense orgy of sex, soul-searching and, eventually, love. "I got a bit desensitized and I think the poor boy got tired," she recalls. "Cyn's seductive, open and receptive," he explains. "It starts off as a sex thing but then it gets out of control. You want more and more intimacy."

The horizontal duality is broken only by an impromptu visit by Cyn's competitive chum (Catherine McClements), who briefly complicates their relationship as she blatantly flirts with Josh.

In a touch of magical realism, an omniscient cab driver (Kris McQuade), along with various friends, serve as a Greek chorus. The laconic cab driver is a cross between a guardian angel and the voice of reason. She may be real, she may not.

Tall, disheveled-looking David Wenham ("Moulin Rouge" and the up-coming "Lord of the Rings") and blond, blue-eyed, freckled Susie Porter ("Paradise Road," "Welcome to Woop, Woop") are confident and obviously comfortable sans clothes, unabashedly romping in the nude and discussing intimate bodily functions, like urination, ejaculation and oral sex, talking straight into the camera.

These inner monologues often reveal the subtext about the characters' attitudes toward sex and commitment that's hidden beneath the banter of their dialogue. It's interesting if you can get past the fact that they're both totally self-absorbed. "Don't fall in love with him," Cyn cautions herself, just before she blurts, "I love you."

In a curious touch, the only item in Cyn's refrigerator, aside from a few rotting vegetables, is a vibrator. "I like it cold," she laughs.

First-time feature-film writer/director Jonathan Teplizky, who has previously done commercials and music videos, astutely observes how strangers connect, graduating from physical attraction to an intimacy that is more profound and long-lasting. But the teasing narrative is often disjointed and the space-confinement soon becomes tedious.

My favorite sequence, however, offers playful hilarity as Josh suggests they go out to get something to eat and Cyn "gets ready," trying on every outfit she owns, weighing his approval of every garment.

The least effective interlude involves Josh's carrying a photograph of an old girl-friend in his wallet to remind him of past mistakes. And the symbolism of having Cyn sewing a friend's wedding dress - which she hems on Josh - is a bit heavy-handed.

On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, "Better Than Sex" is a simplistic, sated 6, but few things are better than sex - and this film is not one of them.