In Jill Soloway’s psychosexual comedy Afternoon Delight, a married mother decides it’s her duty to rescue a stripper but along the way discovers that the person most in need of rescue is herself. Jill joins us to discuss how the project shifted tone after the filming of a key scene and playing against cinematic conventions by exploring a narrative through the heroine’s journey.
Afternoon Delight (2013)
Rachel is a quick-witted and lovable, yet tightly coiled, thirty-something steeped in the creative class of Los Angeles’s bohemian, affluent Silver Lake neighborhood. Everything looks just right – chic modernist home, successful husband, adorable child, and a hipster wardrobe. So why is she going out of her gourd with ennui? Deadened by the stultifying realities of preschool auctions, a lackluster sex life, and career that’s gone kaput, Rachel visits a strip club to spice up her marriage and meets McKenna, a stripper whom she becomes obsessed with saving. She decides to adopt McKenna as her live-in nanny, and this bold move unleashes unimagined and colorful waves of change into her life and community.
As I was making this film I was really realising that, my voice is dark & my tone is something I like to call funcomfortable.
