Bedraggled filmmaker Chris Waitt, in one short debut, has perfected the art of being a total loser. Following an unhealthy professional obsession with puppets, the 33-year-old found himself dumped and unemployed.

Waitt decided a simple solution to his problems would be to put himself in front of a camera. Borrowing money from his mother, he delved into what promised to be a reassuringly shallow psychological self-profile-– contacting each of his ex-girlfriends and asking for an interview on why they dumped him.

Three weeks into filming, the money had run out and no one was speaking to him. Nearly killing the whole project, on one rare brainwave, Waitt showed the film to Warp Films, who could see that his film was highly entertaining. Film4 raised funding and Waitt began a publicly-funded career in professional stalking, resulting in the bemusing escapades of A Complete History of My Sexual Failures.

PsychoPEDIA sat down with the shaking shell of a man and discussed honesty, inappropriate timing from his mother, and his exes' scary new boyfriends:

Where did the initial idea for the documentary come from?
Nothing other than being dumped by a succession of girls and being unclear as to the reasons why. I remember almost all the events in the film as awkward, depressing, and extremely humiliating. Watching them back on screen, they seem hilarious and enjoyable, as the women make mincemeat of me, and I come off as a total loser. The mind has a great way of turning depressing experiences into amusing anecdotes, and filmmaking can do the same I suppose.

How honest is your film?
I’m not naturally the most honest person. The main gripe my ex-girlfriends have, apart from me being lousy in bed, is that I’m a fucking liar. But in the film, those are all my ex-girlfriends; all those horrific encounters actually happened. There are still two ex’s suing me-– I don’t know how much I am allowed to say–- simply on the grounds of contacting them.

You can get sued for a phone call?
They weren’t phone calls. I sat outside one’s house in a van with my cameraman. We were waiting for her new boyfriend to leave so I could interview her. He saw me out the window and went wild. I ran away, but he caught my cameraman and said if this was anything to do with Chris Waitt, he would personally kill him. Me. Or,he’d end up in a fucking wheelchair, that was it. It all went a bit sour.

What have other girlfriends' reactions been?
All the ex-girlfriends are invited to the premiere, which could prove to be a messy evening. Alex, my girlfriend who I met on my Viagra experiment, has seen it. She sat with her hood up except in the S&M scene where she glanced over with raised eyebrows. I did have a family screening at Christmas. It didn’t go down well. I sat watching the stuff and began questioning what process someone has to go through to film themselves being humiliated repeatedly, having their balls whipped and then showing the footage to their mum? That’s just sick.

Not least, as your mom calls as your hired dominatrix is inspecting your bare bottom?
Hee hee. My mum always calls at inappropriate moments.

What’s been the reactions of viewers?
I've mainly been approached by weird guys who seem to want to tell me about their sexual problems. After screenings, I also get interest from middle-aged women who talk to me in quite a sympathetic way.

Aside from the aforementioned, can you say what your "huge problems" are?
Were you ever tempted to turn it into a script and put someone else in the starring role?
I tried writing a number of scripts about being dumped, but I found it hard to finish them, and I'm not sure I'm a very good writer anyway. In the end it was easier just to jump in a van and go and stalk my ex-girlfriends. I find myself idiotic. I have zero personal dignity, no grace, no self-respect.

Don't you reveal some ego simply by making the film?
It’s more an unhealthy self-obsession.

~Iphgenia Baal