Désirs et Sexualités

What are today's sexual practices? From the first awakening to the affirmation of sexual identity, from mainstream to "marginal" practices, an overview of abundant diversity. The last major investigation into contemporary sexuality was in 1991-2 and was a quantitative study. Quantitative research is important in understanding the evolution of sexual practices but nothing can replace a qualitative study, which allows a deeper appreciation of developments in sexual behaviour rather than practices. A researcher at the French national research institute, the CNRS, spent three years conducting hundreds of semi-directive one-on-one interviews with people about their sex lives, from their first flush to their present activity. There emerged from this study a huge range in sexual behaviour, a wealth of practices, which encourages the idea that society has freed itself of many taboos and that, more particularly, women are now more empowered sexually. Through an abundant blend of interviews, illustrations, dramatised sequences, film clips and archive footage, etc, this 2-hour documentary aims to testify to the astonishing diversity of contemporary sexual comportment, through personal stories, specific experiences, whose individual singularity builds a broader picture of the society we live in. From the first awakening to the affirmation of sexual identity, from mainstream to "marginal" practices, what does sex mean today? And are sex and love still, and forever, linked? How do people today handle their sexuality, be it hetero, homo or bi? Besides interviews with the ordinary people who make up society, illustrated by images or fictional sequences, the film also features the contribution of the researcher who carried out this study and who will provide cool, scientific analysis, steering the film clear of the pitfalls of voyeurism.