Review of The Clinic

The Clinic (1982)
5/10
VD can be a laughing matter
29 December 2021
Warning: Spoilers
This film shows doctors and patients dealing with their problems over the course of a day in a busy Melbourne VD clinic, and a trainee doctor learning to overcome his prejudices and stereotypes. The film is well made and generally interesting and amusing, but suffers from the lack of a central character or narrative.

Instead the film offers dozens of stories of the individual doctors, nurses and patients, who all deal with a variety of male and female genital problems acquired during a wide variety of sexual encounters. The patients deal with guilt, anxiety and anger in different combinations as a variety of male and female clinicians try to help them medically and psychologically.

The result is an interesting overview of Australia's sexual scene in the 1980s, with a wide array of different characters, some of whom are regulars but most of whom are making their first embarrassed visit.

Chris Haywood and Gerda Nicolson are very good as two of the principal doctors, and Simon Burke plays an interesting role as the student doctor who is initially repulsed by some of the patients, but who eventually realises the good work being done in the clinic.
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