Melanie Lynskey on ‘radical’ nudity

Alexander Bisley (for The Guardian)

Is your character Michelle’s full frontal scene in Togetherness another example of that realism?

When people have sex, they’re naked. It’s not supposed to be turning everyone on. We’re not showing perfectly manicured porn bodies – people are used to seeing that kind of image of sexuality, especially of the female body. It feels really exciting to me to be naked and be like: “Hey, that’s what some people look like!” It feels radical.
It really helped once I stopped trying to become something that is physically impossible for me to become. It’s a freedom to be able to say: “No thank you, I don’t want to participate”. I started working a lot more when I came to terms with that. We all have the internet – there’s just an image of what especially a woman is supposed to look like. It’s hard to tell yourself that it doesn’t matter. 
Anne Dudek-Melanie Lynskey


Finally, then, tell me about your misophonia.
It’s a brain condition when you can’t comprehend anything else when you hear a gross noise. My dad was very, very fussy about never making any noise so I don’t know if it’s nature or nurture. But it’s horrible, I feel like a terrible person. Last night, my boyfriend and I had this noodle soup and it’s really hard to eat quietly. He’s paralysed with self-consciousness because I’m sitting there, like losing my mind. But he’s a lovely eater – I wouldn’t be with him if he wasn’t!

Melanie Lynskey (breasts) in Togetherness [S1E4]

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