“Eksie Perfeksie” director Corné Koegelenberg was determined to break boundaries with his raunchy romantic comedy.
In order to achieve this, he opted to delve into his personal life to provide viewers with something that would entertain them and also get them thinking.
“I think anytime I see an opportunity to make something unique, something that is different, I gravitate towards that,” he said.
“This is the type of story that requires you to rethink the way you approach storytelling and I loved that challenge.”
He added: “Romantic comedies mostly follow a very generic recipe, which is the reason people love this genre. When this story came along and presented an opportunity to experiment and to try outrageous things, while still trying to stick to the recipe, I couldn’t say no.”
The movie, which is streaming on Showmax, follows introverted André (Pietie Beyers), a divorced man who gets swept up in a steamy romance with the vibrant Dalene (Emma van Heyn).
He decides to move in with her, only to discover she is friends with several of her ex-boyfriends.
Intimidated by their constant presence, André tries to befriend them but soon discovers that Dalene’s past relationships follow the same pattern.
Narrated by Pierre Breytenbach, the raunchy comedy, which was also written by Koegelenberg, is based on a story by his girlfriend, Bibi Slippers.
“The story was my girlfriend’s concept, she initially developed the story. I’m honestly too scared to ask where or how she got the idea,” Koegelenberg said.
“I will disclose that we have different opinions about exes, but we have found a way to keep the peace.”
Apart from Beyers, who has starred in “Binnelanders” and "Die Onderonsie“, as well as van Heyn, who appeared in the 2024 Silwerskerm selection of ”Gebokste Liefde“ and ”Matilda en Matthys”, the rest of the cast features renowned South African hunk Bobby van Jaarsveld and former Mister World South Africa Sean van Noordwyk, as two of Dalene’s many exes.
They are joined by “Binnelanders” star, Maude Sandham, Cindy Swanepoel from “Koek” and Yvonne van den Bergh who was in “7de Laan” and made her first on-screen appearance in nearly a decade as a dominatrix.
Koegelenberg said the film ultimately seeks to find an answer to the question: “Can you stay friends with your exes?”
“This is a question that divides opinion and people feel very strongly about whichever side they are on.
“I tried not to answer the question, but rather show that there isn’t an answer at all. “Relationships are messy, and if you like someone enough, you need to deal with their messiness and, most importantly, your own mess as well.”
Although “Eksie Perfeksie” is somewhat controversial and has an age restriction of 16, Koegelenberg said people from all walks of life would be able to relate to it.
“I am going to create a completely fake statistic and claim that about 99% of all adults have an ex-partner of some kind.
“Just based on that, everyone would be able to relate to the movie about the implication of keeping an ex in your life. Who hasn’t had to deal with a crazy ex or who hasn’t been the crazy ex?
“This story shows just how crazy a person can get and the viewers at home can safely watch from the comfort of their couch and proclaim: ‘At least I wasn’t that crazy!’
“Some people might think it is a bit too much, but that is okay. We are aware that this is not everyone’s cup of tea.
“Mostly, I hope people enjoy the ridiculousness of it and embrace this kind of storytelling.”
He added: “I also think viewers will be surprised by how much heart this film has and that it is not just another raunchy comedy with cheap jokes and nudity.”
“We tried to create a story with real characters that have real problems and I hope viewers find them relatable.”
Helming the movie was also something different for Koegelenberg, who has also worked on “Skemer” and “Eenrigting”.
“I think most of the projects I have been working on were smaller, in the sense that they were not the type of projects that caught a lot of attention.
“Since this is a Showmax film, we knew from the start that it came with a possibility that a lot of people could actually watch this.”
“Add the risks involved with making a raunchy film to a mostly conservative Afrikaans audience, the pressure was higher than we have ever experienced.”
Koegelenberg said he and his team adopted a “go-big-or-go-home” attitude as they hoped to get as many people talking about the movie as possible.
“That guided the writing process and the production process, and we ended up with a movie that is really ridiculous and that we sincerely hope stands out among the crowd.”
∎ “Eksie Perfeksie” is streaming on Showmax.