Nude Tuesday

The thrill has gone for middle-aged couple Laura (Jackie van Beek) and Bruno (Australian actor Damon Herriman). They take a punt at Ẅønđeulä, a couples' retreat designed to strip relationships down — in all senses of the word. In this trailer Laura and Bruno experience intimacy seminars and nude hikes run by velvet-voiced guru Bjorg (a lascivious Jemaine Clement). Writer van Beek and director Armağan Ballantyne (The Strength of Water) upped the 'lunacy' of the idea by having their stellar cast improvise in gibberish: a made up language later subtitled by English comic Julia Davis (Nighty Night).

Able to switch off their brains from thinking about what it was they were actually saying, the cast could focus instead on the tone and emphasis of the emotional exchanges between each other ... they were also able to speed up scenes they thought were too slow by literally just cutting out bits of dialogue, knowing that it wouldn’t have the remotest impact on the story.

– Writer Alex Ritman on the advantages of actors talking in a fictional language, The Hollywood Reporter, 12 February 2022

Key Cast & Crew

Damon Herriman

As: Bruno

Jackie van Beek

Writer, Original Story, Associate Producer, As: Laura

Jemaine Clement

As: Bjorg

Armağan Ballantyne

Director, Original Story

Nick Batzias

Producer

Emma Slade

Producer