The Book of Gabrielle

Lisa Gornick's funny and frank drama sketches the relationship between a sex-obsessed lesbian illustrator and a randy hetero author, who bond over their favourite subject.

Lisa Gornick's funny and frank drama sketches a most unexpected meeting of minds. Gabrielle (Gornick herself) is a London-based illustrator hoping to publish her book of risqué sex drawings. She gets an unlikely boost from an encounter with an established author, Saul Bernard (Allan Corduner), who is similarly sex-obsessed. Despite their opposing sexual orientations, the pair strike up a platonic yet mildly flirtatious friendship, in which they reveal innermost sexual secrets and muse on their shared Jewish heritage.

The last film from the multi-talented one-woman production outfit Lisa Gornick is a marvel of modestly budgeted craftsmanship, which revels in its quirky characters and insightful dialogue in a manner more familiar from US independent cinema. Gornick envisaged the film as a multiplatform event which variously encompassed a live show and the production of Gabrielle's book itself; but the film stands alone as a sexy and provocative delight that veers away from predictability at every turn, anchored around Gornick's mature performance and an impish turn from veteran character actor Corduner (Defiance, Topsy-Turvy).