Bloom Up

Pet shop owners by day and swingers by night, Italian couple Hermes and Betta are, in most ways, regular people. In this honest, sex-positive look at the swinger lifestyle, director and cinematographer Mauro Russo Rouge is invited into their lives with no moment off-limits, crafting a portrait of a relationship that gives equal weight to the mundane yet strangely fascinating logistics of organizing sex parties as it does to the act itself. Shot in a rich visual style that is deeply sensual without ever feeling vulgar or exploitative, the film is "more emotionally than sexually voyeuristic” (Screen Daily), an intimate exploration of the deep love and complex challenges one polyamorous couple shares. Bloom Up premiered at the Hot Docs Film Festival and has a suggested rating of R / 18+.

This film opens August 12 in theaters.