Is more merrier? New Louis Theroux doco looks at polyamory

What’s life like if you’re polyamorous? Prolific documentary maker Louis Theroux turns his lens on the controversial practice in Love Without Limits.

To commemorate 20 extraordinarily consistent years in the business, a top-notch recent work by prolific British TV documentarian Louis Theroux is making its way into local cinemas.

No stranger to difficult, tricky or odd subjects, Theroux confidently, yet modestly turns his sights in Love Without Limits on the controversial practice of polyamory.

Or as it is known in the proudly out-there American city of Portland, Oregon, “ethical non-monogamy.”

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Louis Theroux’s Love Without Limits turns its lens on polyamory. Picture: Supplied

It is here that Theroux pays recurring visits to various groupings of men and women for whom one-on-one relationships are no longer the best fit for their emotional, sexual or practical needs.

Comedy fans will probably associate Portland with the excellent sketch series Portlandia, and its portrait of this alternative-lifestyle utopia as a catchment area for hapless hippies and loopy lefties.

To his credit, Theroux backs off exploiting this material for easy laughs in any way. Many of the participants involved in the doco are reluctantly dropping their guard and baring their true selves, and could easily have withdrawn all access had they been treated as a joke.

The results of Theroux’s investigation — conducted with the genial, open-minded respect and honest curiosity which have long been his trademarks — are decidedly mixed.

For some, sharing a bed, a house and indeed, a life with multiple partners has definitely been a case of “the more, the merrier.”

For others, insecurity, jealousy and a new form of loneliness experienced at painfully close quarters are the unavoidable outcomes.

The documentary is unusually compelling in that quite often, it is what the interviewees are clearly choosing not to say that resonates most with the viewer.

Some of the awkward silences between carefully constructed sentences, some of the sudden glances, and the occasional barely stifled sigh all suggest there is more going on here than first meets the eye.

Theroux refuses to exploit polyamory for easy laughs. Picture; Supplied

As an added bonus to this fine production, viewers will also be treated to a half-hour compilation of highlights (and lowlights) covering the breadth of Theroux’s long and colourful career.

LOUIS THEROUX: LOVE WITHOUT LIMITS (M)

Opens in general release for a limited season from Saturday, December 1

Rating: Three and a half stars (3.5 out of 5)

Director: Arron Fellows

Starring: Louis Theroux.

Two’s company, three (or more) is a relationship