Video: Flirting with success

Flirt (Dir: Hal Hartley, USA, 1996)

The preface to the published script of Flirt begins with a quote attributed to Jean Renoir: "But you know, everyone really only makes one film in his life, and then breaks it up into fragments and makes it again with just a few little variations each time."

To the nth degree, Hartley takes Renoir at his word. Flirt is split into three different countries, three sexual permutations and three meanings - but the dialogue and plot are the same in each. A lover is asked to commit, goes out searching for the answer and ends up flirting with disaster.

Does a situation depend on the particular person? Or is it dependent on a social situation? Flirt asks these questions with style and humour. The most profound rumblings coming from male talk in toilets, female bonding in prison and construction workers chit-chat.