This is strong meat. I hated it on first viewing - actively hated it. It flies in the face of our conditioning, in small ways and big ways.
This is a detached (asexual?) view of sexual behavior. It was made by a writer/director who likes to immerse his audience in darkness and to upset them. In this singular instance, concept and style came together for him into a film that is unlike any other, and broadened the vocabulary of movie art.
We watch a bunch of people chase "happiness", which to them with their societal conditioning means hard orgasms. One is an idealistic woman who puts herself into vulnerable positions, looking for lovers that she can "help". One is a hardened woman losing her ability to feel. One is an obscene caller who drinks heavily and whose days center around masturbation. And one is a pedophile, who drugs and rapes his sons' friends.
The pedophile angle dominates the film, because it's the plot thread that's unlike anything before it in movies. It's capable of angering or sickening viewers, particularly if they interpret it as attempt at dark comedy. Really, it's a cold hard look at pedophilia - unflinching. If you can stand to really think about this, you realize that some people are born that way, born cursed - it's a dysfunction, not a choice. And their "happiness" can cause pain and suffering on a magnitude beyond the other sad stories in this film.
The ending is disturbing, as well. You're going to either uncomfortably laugh or you're going to get angry; maybe both. This film is imperfect in that the pace is slower than it needs to be. But it does fulfill the primary function of art : it makes us see the world in a different way. And in this case, a way that is inarguably true, that most of us can't generally stand to look at.
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