Who has seen David Schisgall's documentary film?

[SW_PA_Couple]

We are curious to know if any of you have seen David Schisgall's documentary film, The Lifestyle, and if so, what do you think of it. It has it's critics but we believe it matches our experience and our personal perception of the lifestyle, for good and bad, all the way up and down the line. Let us know.

Michael and JoAnn

[WesternSwing]

I haven't seen it, but from this statement by David Schisgall I would believe it would be above par for a film on swinging:

Interviewer: ...you make a statement regarding the film which is very provocative in and of itself really: "Frankly, I think the swingers may be morally superior to the audience." What should we take from that?

Schisgall: What I mean is that sometimes documentarians make fun of their subjects, portraying them as inferior to the filmmakers and the audience. No one would ever make fun of, say, an aboriginal tribe that was the subject of a documentary, or a community of the underprivileged in this country, and I refused to do it to the swingers. "The Lifestyle" is very funny -- but without making fun. We walked a fine line. The swingers may be morally superior to the audience in that they are sometimes more honest, more attentive, and have better communication with their spouses than people in the audience. Think about it -- in the average American marriage, one member telling the other they want to have sex with other people tends to lead pretty quick to a discussion about divorce. To make swinging work you have to have a very strong relationship with excellent communication. And the swingers -- particularly the ones in this film that are coming out of the closet for the first time -- certainly have the courage of their convictions.

Mr. WS

[intuition897]

Shazam! I haven't seen it yet, but I'll have to.

I remember seeing the clip from the Oprah episode when they interviewed him. Two things that stuck out in my mind were his statements that not only were swingers as moral as the rest of society, but probably MORE moral than the general population, and that he stated that swinging was the double black diamond slope of marriage. You could've heard a pin drop in the studio. All I could think was HA!! Right on, dude!

[just1gurl]

well, don't go to blockbuster online, theres now a "long wait" for it.

Heres a review from their site:


"What sort of people engage in recreational group sex on a regular basis? David Schisgall's documentary The Lifestyle provides one answer: mostly cheerful, but paunchy, suburban couples who have either slipped into middle age or are starting to advance past it. "

everyone certainly seems cheerful around here, are you paunchy?

[graygo98]

Here is the blurb on Zip.ca

Forget martinis and Austin Powers. This documentary is an unflinching portrait of the realities of "swinging," and it's not exactly a shaggadelic picture. The swingers we meet are older, often lonely people looking to break out of their conventional lives by adopting "the lifestyle." Birds and bees may not do it, but we learn that monkeys do -- as well as 3 million Americans.

Ok, paunchy sometimes. But lonely?

[lovedoctor]

::looks around::

Who's lonely here? I wish I could be lonely sometimes, LOL. facelick

[RnLinohio]

I would say that from the amount of members on this board... it would be hard to get lonely in this lifestyle.

[lovedoctor]

::singing::

"I don't wanna be lonely no more,
I don't wanna have to pay for this.
I don't wanna know the lover at my door
Is just another heartache on my list.
I don't wanna be angry no more,
But you know I could never stand for this.
So when you tell me that you love me -
Know for sure.
I don't wanna be lonely anymore."

[Greg & Sheryl]

Not only have we seen it, but Sheryl and her previous husband actually appear in it. On this board, Schisgall's documentary was mentioned several times in this thread about swinging documentaries. Here are a couple of links about the documentary:

A short review from Philadelphia's Citypaper.net
A detailed review from Salon.com

[edmustang]

Sounds like an interesting and fair documentary about something we all know a little bit about...something the "critics" don't quite understand and may be a little afraid of.

[sexyshelby]

Anyone know where I can find a copy of this?

~SS

[Greg & Sheryl]

Originally Posted by sexyshelby

Anyone know where I can find a copy of this?

~SS

It's available through Netflix here.

[Paphian]

Originally Posted by sexyshelby

Anyone know where I can find a copy of this?

~SS

Amazon.ca has it in DVD or VHS: Amazon Canada

Only in VHS: Amazon USA

[Greg & Sheryl]

Originally Posted by Paphian

Amazon.ca has it in DVD or VHS: Amazon Canada
Only in VHS: Amazon USA

Thanks for the tip. We were wondering why our DVD searches on Amazon USA were coming up empty!

[Paphian]

Originally Posted by Greg & Sheryl

Thanks for the tip. We were wondering why our DVD searches on Amazon USA were coming up empty!

You're welcome

A trick to quickly find what's available in what format is to go first to the Internet Movie Database, search out the film there, then check out the "Shop" box in the upper right corner. The "lit" indicators are the available formats on the different Amazon sites.

IMDB is great. They've got more information than you'd imagine about all sorts of films. Here's the page for "The Lifestyle"