Gowok: Javanese Kamasutra

Inspired by a centuries-old Javanese text, Hanung Bramantyo’s resplendent, 1960s-set drama details the practice of a learned woman hired by a family to teach their young men about the realities and practicalities of a sexual relationship during marriage.

Gowok, a figure from Javanese tradition, held a role as rare as it was provocative: women hired to guide grooms in understanding sexuality and the female body before marriage. Their teachings drew not from India’s Kama Sutra but from the Serat Centhini, an extraordinary twelve-volume opus chronicling the cultural, spiritual and sensual dimensions of Javanese life. In Gowok: Javanese Kamasutra, Hanung Bramantyo melds the lush textures of history with a deeply human tale, unspooling a love story that reveals as much about personal longing as it does about the fragility of tradition under the weight of change.

One of Indonesia’s most lauded filmmakers, Bramantyo brings the 1960s thrillingly to life, not only capturing the period in all its glory, prior to the civil breakdown later in the decade, but also exploring this patriarchal culture whose truth is more complex. Eschewing explicitness in its depiction of the sexual teachings in favour of a poetic rendering of the Gowok’s role, the film articulately details the journey of its protagonists as they embark on a new, more complex stage in their lives. In doing so, Bramantyo has crafted one of his most daring films.

– Vanja Kaludjercic

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