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Openly gay Johan (Magnus Juhl Andersen) works at a gay sauna, and even though he only has a lowly dead end job, he enjoys work for the atmosphere of the place. And he gets enough sex at the club as well, and yet his life feels a tad empty as all the sex is meaningless. And then he meets William (Nina Teresa Rask) through a dating app, and the two experience love at first sight when they meet for the very first time for real. Everything goes well ... until Johan finds out that William is trans - sure , he dresses like a man, identifies as a man, William even sees him as a man, but biologically William's still a woman. Sure, he wants sex change surgery today rather than tomorrow and takes hormones like other people eat candy, but it's simply not that easy, as surgery doesn't come cheap and William has to pass a psychological examination first - which he might not because he identifies as a gay man. Johan loves him anyhow, and even takes him to the sauna he works at to have sex with - but William's thrown out for not being a biological man. Johan decides to steal money from work to pay for surgery but is caught doing so and fired. And not only that, he's also thrown out of his home, forcing him to move in with William. This goes really well for a time, but before long he notices he is as not accepted by William's queer friends as she was at the sauna - and tensions between the two lovers grow and grow, especially since Johan doesn't really have the first clue how to actually deal with the situation ...

Now I will admit that Sauna meanders on a bit and does make some of its points a few times too often. That said, this is also clearly a film that coems from the heart, which results in very empathetic character portrayals as well as a story that refuses to find simple solutions to complex issues. And a suitably subtle directorial effort and layered performances by the two leads help make this a film that's well worth one's while.

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

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