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Tamara Jenkins 2018 dramedyPrivate Lifemore than lives up to its title.
Richard yells to Rachel from across the apartment.
You think we should take down theLisa Yuskavage?
Rachel pauses in her scrubbing.
No, she says, utterly confused.
Rachel walks into the room, still off-camera.
They stare at the vagina together thoughtfully, neither of them remarking on Rachels equally exposed nether regions.
I think we should at least move it so its not so central, says Richard finally.
Just fuck it, she yells, her exclamatory arms pulling her T-shirt even higher.
Just fuck the whole fucking thing!
Rachel storms back to the bathroom, this time giving the camera an unobstructed view of her butt.
She begins to scrub again, still melting down.
Between the doctors, the social workers, the support groups, its just like, you know what?
Shut the fuck up already!
She violently expels a poof of bleach into the air.
Shove it up your fucking asses!
The vagina painting sits, undisturbed, directly behind their heads.
(Just kidding, I was not wearing any.)
(Tamara Jenkins said Winnie the Pooh Rights!)
Maybe its because Im old.
Is that like, a modern thing, like a young millennial expression?
Kathryn Hahn:kindly tell me.
Well, Winnie the Pooh walks around with a T-shirt but no pants.Jenkins:Thats so funny.
Hahn:Oh, thatssocute!
Aw, thats why!
I was like,Is there something Im missing, I cannot figure it out.
Hahn: I kept thinking of how revolutionary that was, and feeling like, What?!
I just remember seeing that and being like[gasps.
]It just felt so thrilling and terrifying and aggressive and youthful.
Jenkins:And theresa great Gaby Hoffmann scene inTransparent.That should go down in the Winnie the Pooh record.
I was asking an actor to do nudity and it wasnt pre-established.
Youre supposed to work those things out in advance.
And you just feel like youve entrapped someone.
So I didnt want to seem like I was being sleazy or something.
I was very grateful that I wasnt a man at the time.
And at a certain point Richard says, What should we do about the Yuskavage?
Dont you think its a little too much?
And Rachel comes in and has a total meltdown about it.
And Tamara did spring it on me.
Its funny, because I said, without even thinking, Of course.
It completely made sense.
I just knew with my spidey sense like,Of course, I shouldnt have my pants on.
Of course.If I had underwear on, it just wouldnt have packed as much of a punch.
And so there are a lot of quick back and forth emails just with the subject line, Merkin.
Which made me laugh.
She said it super bluntly.
I could barely finish the proposal.
So Id say it again the next time: You know, I had this idea.
And shes like, … Yeah.
Im so neurotic about it and she was so un-neurotic.
It was kind of great.
Hahn: [Laughs.
]I dont know what that says about me.
How did you know that this sort of visual joke would work?
Why is it so poignantly funny?Jenkins:I think its a combination of things.
And then theres the fact that half the population has a vagina.
So its like the domestic version versus the objectified version, almost like a split screen.
[Youre] clearly in the process of getting ready.
But then shes by the filthy tub and shes going at it.
How you dont have to inhale the belly anymore.
That kind of nudity between a couple is so real.
That was a great way to get into that marriage, too.
And then she just busts in.
It was just a great primal assertion of something.
Vaginas have so much power!
Theres just something funny about it being caught without your pants on.
Thats a very interesting turn of phrase, right?
It means that youre without power.
So here she is in this kind of vulnerable state, but shes very emotional and opinionated and angry.
I do have a really provocative thing on my wall that Lisa gave me in real life.
Im looking at it right now.
And its like, I know, what can I tell you?
Its the subject of a lot of painters work.
I didnt make it up!
Just go into the Met.
You probably would hide things that you would think looked suspicious.
Youre like,Wow.
Shes really … shes freestyling.
I think it was Dolores, but I cant quite be sure.
But she definitely was treated and handled with much care and love the merkin, Im talking about.
It was very freeing to be able to scream with a merkin on.
]I was like, Of course!
We decided to lift the Band-Aid off.
She paused and she said: Day one.
And I was like, Really?
Kathryn, what made you feel comfortable enough to shoot it on day one?
It was just trying to get to a place of, like, complete lack of inhibition.
This was just how any of us would walk around our apartment, or by ourselves.
So that kind of Jedi mind trick is a tough one to pull off.
But with this particular bird of Tamara, she made it so crazy easy and so effortless and safe.
Just to feel like youre the one in control of it.
We did have to do something kind of odd.
The bathroom in the film wasnt the bathroom thats in the apartment.
We had to shoot that in the studio space, because the apartment bathroom wasnt working.
And I was like Oh, thats an interesting point.
I dont know how I justified it, but I wanted that Ajax flying.
Its all kind of anti-glamour.
I havent really done an erotic sex scene for an erotic thriller.
But thats not usually my jam.
Im more interested in a non-idealized portrait of life.
The humor often comes from quotidian.
Hahn:I guess I would say its always uncomfortable [to film nudity].
Its never, like, the most comfortable thing.
I had an intimacy coordinator onMrs.
Fletcher,and Ive never worked with that kind of person before.
Its kind of a great go-between just to ensure that everybodys [comfortable].
Ive just been lucky and blessed enough that Ive had really good communication between scene partners and directors.
But I mean, men walk around like that too!
Or maybe men always put their pants on first, and then I dont know.
And I thought that was pretty funny.
