Take for example their continual depiction (even in supposedly progressive films such as "Pulp Fiction" and "Seven") as pyschotic or dysfunctional. Thus, whereas it is usually very easy to get product placement in a feature film with well-known actors like Tom Bell, 37 companies have turned us down! As a producer I was duly appalled at having to pay for things like office equipment but as writer/director I was pleased to be doing something too uncomfortable for Britain's cosy product placement system (save for a couple of rare and dishonourable exceptions).

The characters in this film are presented without judgemental attitudes as legitimate protagonists in a modern-day comedy love liaison.

I am very pleased that women have responded particularly well at the rough cut previews, identifying with strong female characters acting in a world of their own and fulfilling their fantasies in a creative environment. Perhaps some men are likely to be a little uneasy with the film but most couples will probably find it a good dating experience with appropriate discussions to follow afterwards; but I warn them not to attempt everything they see at home!

The views on sexuality expressed in Tanya's shows and lifestyle are drawn partly from postwar French philosophers of sexuality: they noted the intert wining of religion, sex and paganism. "Sex was sacred, and transgression was licensed on public holidays" was taken from Georges Bataille's "Eroticism". Other influences are Roland Barthes, particularly " A Lover's Discourse".

Thus, to Tanya, a declaration of love is mere words and instead her soul and that of Peter must search for the amorous crisis requiring a solution - sacrifice or escape.

I have drawn useful pointers also from many modern female writers - Pat Califia, Valerie Steel (Fashion, Sex & Power), Camille Paglia to mention a few - for providing inspirational material for portraying fetishism and characterising Tanya and her coterie. Today, many feminists are opposed to censorship but I remain grateful to the anti-porn lobby of Andrea Dworkin et al and to writers against pleasure such as Louise Kaplan (Female Perversions) for their depressing opinions to consider and reject.

I am attempting in this film to present a view of the world and sexual relationships unencumbered by adherence to political orthodoxy of any persuasion, political correctness or conventional dogmatism.

Instead, the film's world is presented in a stylised way, fortified by irony and robust humour: sometimes black, sometimes bawdy. I have no idea what people will say but they won't have seen many films quite like this one. The audience will be engulfed by a heightened reality and concepts of surreal humour - the recumbent cat on Scotland Yard sign, the organ in the House of Commons chapel that segues into the sleazy electric organ on the soundtrack of the shocking bestiality video that Harding forces himself to watch.

Stuart Urban