It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

It's the 1930s, and Australian artist Norman Lindsay (Sam Neill) has created a painting of a voluptuous nude woman on a cross. This is deemed blasphemous by The Church, who send one of their young ministers, Anthony Campion (Hugh Grant), and his wife Estella (Tara Fitzgerald), to Australia to try to talk him out of submitting the painting for exhibition. Anthony and Estella find Lindsay on his country estate, living a bohemian existence with his wife Rose (Pamela Rabe), their two children, and Lindsay's three gorgeous models. Sheela (supermodel Elle Macpherson) and Pru (Kate Fischer) are the more outgoing ones, and Giddy (Portia de Rossi) is the more naive, innocent one. Estella finds that their sexually liberated ways tend to rub off on her.There's a fair bit of discussion of art, religion, and philosophy in this not uninteresting social comedy. It's all attractively shot, on picturesque Oz locations, and is atmospheric and notably erotic. Many viewers may gravitate towards "Sirens" on the strength of the nudity, and there's quite a bit to admire here. Macpherson, Fischer, de Rossi, and Fitzgerald all are tantalizing, but rest assured that there's some beefcake on display as well, as the blind, rugged Devlin (Mark Gerber) doffs his duds for the camera. Overall, the film is good, light entertainment from writer / director John Duigan, who also has a cameo as a minister. He gets very good performances out of everybody present, especially Fitzgerald and de Rossi. The story rests on Fitzgeralds' capable shoulders as she undergoes a change in character.No, "Sirens" is not for the easily offended, but those with thicker skins should find this agreeable enough.Lindsay was previously played by James Mason in the 1969 film "Age of Consent".Seven out of 10.

I heard about this film when I saw Dennis Pennis describing the leading British actor as woody, and in this film he said it was like a chair being thrown into the room, so I was interested to see what I would think. Basically young Anglican priest reverend Anthony Campion (Hugh Grant) has been asked by the bishop to travel from England to Australia with his wife Estella (Brassed Off's Tara Fitzgerald) to visit the eccentric artist Norman Lindsay (Sam Neill). The reason for the visit is to try and stop his work getting out, he is prone to painting sexually controversial imagery, but specifically the work "Crucified Venus" is requested to be withdrawn from show. Anthony tries to stay composed about the opinions of the church, but staying in the artist's place he is shocked by it having no moral standards, especially when it comes to models like Sheela (Elle Macpherson) and Pru (Kate Fischer), and Lindsay's wife Rose (Pamela Rabe) not showing shame or embarrassment taking their clothes off to pose or have fun. But his wife Estella is having trouble also, she is sexually frustrated and has many urges she lusts to fulfil, trying to remain loyal to her husband she cannot help but be intrigued by the women who are free to be nude. By the end of the film Anthony realises that he can do nothing about the desire for Norman to release his latest work, especially as Estella is happy to be depicted in it, and she may have found some passion for her husband after all. Also starring Portia De Rossi as Giddy, Ben Mendelsohn as Lewis, John Polson as Tom and Mark Gerber as Devlin. Grant is indeed wooden and hardly contributes anything but smiling and being posh, Neill doesn't get much time on screen either, Fitzgerald is relatively good as the quietly lusting wife wanting to break free, and Macpherson is okay being naughty and getting her top off a lot. The story is pretty pointless, it seems like just an excuse to see women get their clothes off as often as possible, and if it is meant to make an audience laugh it doesn't do it very well, a silly and pretty boring erotic comedy. Adequate!

While it takes some time to declare itself as the story of the sensual awakening of the Tara Fitzgerald character, the movie brilliantly captures the Anglo-Saxon tension that arises whenever faced with the erotic. Hugh Grant is winningly Hugh Grant, the other characters are fun and believable in a scenario that manages to be both realistic and whimsical. The dialog is funny, the Australian geography is stunning, as are the naked forms of the women, who together manage to achieve more sensual nudity than a years' worth of French movies. Rachel Portman's score is fantastic, wonderfully mirroring Tara Fitzgerald's liberation, an act achieved through her own risk-taking, and then mentoring another woman through the same process. Hugh Grant may fail in his paramount plot goal but his character is more than rewarded with a wife whose outlook on life promises a new kind of open relationship.

A soft-core, high-minded daydream about the liberating sensuality of art. Sometimes the sirens in the film (Elle MacPherson, Kate Fischer and Portia de Rossi are the others) tickle one another merrily, and sometimes they talk about whether sea slugs make a good aphrodisiac.The story is based on a real artist, Norman Lindsay(Sam Neill)and there was a real Anglican priest (played by Hugh Grant) sent to convince him to withdraw his "Crucified Venus" from exhibition. The film is set on Campion's estate and features his work throughout.It is a little wild, silly at times, and features explicit nudity and sexual situations. Perfect introduction to Hugh Grant's abilities.