PeterMitchell-506-564364 It's no surprise, you'll find Man Of Flowers one of the oddest films you've ever see. A rich lonely man, Norman Kaye, fantastic as, loves arty things. He plays piano, studies flowers, art, pays to watch beautiful young women like Alyson Best disrobe, in the opening scene. Not there's nothing wrong with the latter, although I wouldn't pay a hundred smackaroos. But in our Charles Bremmer, is an underlying picture of a lonely and mentally sick man. He posts letters to his dead mother. His psychiatrist isn't any help either, telling Charles he's doing the same thing as well as informing him that the rates are going up. One thing Charles has a lot of, is money. The scene with his shrink is my favorite among a few others. He forms a friendship with Best, that borders on a sexual one. Best though too has a lesbian lover, in one frank scene of nudity, one thing this film doesn't hold back on. Another scene, a droll timeless one, involves Kaye, in the raw, standing up in a spa bath, telling a doctor on the phone, his problems, like how he loves to smell his studies flowers, and wait till you hear how he replies. Just another guy that doesn't understand our poor Charles and his predictament. Best has an abusive ex boyfriend (Haywood-good as always) a struggling artist, who lives in the studio in the city. One scene sees him having an argument with a client on the phone, while nibbling on a yo yo biscuit, is another treasured scene. Haywood, one of Aussie's great actors is great at portraying anger, it had me rewatching the scene a few times as other ones. When Best moves in with Charles she invites her lesbian lover over, where Charles explains a exercise they must do, where Charles starts by quoting, "I've been told by doctors in the higher field". He even gets a pool installed, tent and all, I found intriguing. I really wanted Best to end up with Charles, but the end just reminds us lonely folk, as we stand apart from our other lonely peers while looking out to sea, loneliness can sometimes to be an inevitably, especially if we're not willing to do anything about it, or keep turning people away. The scenes that really got up my goat, I had to fast forward, were flashbacks played against operatic music. But they're not all bad. One shows Charles as a kid outside with a slingslot, breaking one of the front windows, where the father comes running out after him. Another of the weird scenes has Charles having quite a peculiar conversation with you're not ordinary mailman, who prewarns him about the consequences of not paying gas bills. A lot of scenes in this film are odd, as it's other characters, that are not of the regular norm, but they're funny. Another odd scene, is when he's sketching a nude artist-guess who? His teacher-Julia Blake, goes off at him, as he's drawing flowers instead. What's this preoccupation with flowers? Man Of Flowers is odd, but with it's oddness, is it's originality that I liked. This one deserves it's place up against Bliss, though it's not gonna appeal to all tastes. It's one of the most uniquely beautiful and oddest Aussie films you'll see, with great performances to boot.

TedMichaelMor An unforgettable film that lingers in memory long after the viewer forgets most details including the narrative itself, "Man of Flowers" is one I saw with my former wife decades ago. I thought she liked it as much as I did. She did not like it at all. At the time, I saw the movie, I linked it with a close friend who lived an acrid and wilted life similar to that of the protagonist Charles Bremer. As I aged, I realized more of myself in the protagonist—something more than a tad unnerving.Critics praise Norman Kaye for his courage in this role—I think they rightly commend him, but the entire film seems an act of great courage for those involved in its creation, that includes Alyson Best (Lisa)and Chris Haywood the young actor who plays her abuser David. Critics note how the film takes a comic turn—it does.The final scene looks like something from a surrealist painting but it most fully to me evokes Ute Lemper's haunting cover of the song "Just a Little Yearning" that " won't be fulfilled

Pascal Zinken (LazySod) Charles Bremer, an elderly man, is a little eccentric. His love for flowers is only equaled by his love for watching a pretty woman undress. He lives on his own, plays the organ in church and tends to stick to himself. Things don't go really fast for him, until the drug addicted boyfriend of the girl he pays to strip for him turns violent.Nudity, classical music, long slow scenes with a lot of colors, emotional darkness. That'd be the general description of the film in a few words. It'd be a great injustice to this little film though. The story is played out amazingly well, with a very acceptable explanation of the Man of Flowers, and why he is who he is and all.The choice of musical overdub in this film, sometimes blotting out everything that is happening completely, reminded me a bit of A Clockwork Orange, although that film is almost entirely unlike this one. It works out very well though, pushing the accentuation in just the right direction when that is needed. Clearly a well done case of film-making.8 out of 10 flowers in the air

bauerdk The storyline is secondary to the telling of the hero. The journeys into his (our) madness (?) are beautiful beautiful, as are we in our most tender selves. I suggest seeing the film of course, I also suggest regular visits to our tender self. The natural beauty of the model is astonishing.