Romance

The words of Emmanuelle Beart (referring to her nude scenes in La Belle Noiseuse) came back to me as I watched Romance: "I wasn't baring my ass, I was baring my soul."So it is for Romance, a drama that has been called everything from "sexiest movie ever made" to "pornography". And on a strictly technical viewpoint, the terms apply -- with graphic depictions of fellatio, copulation, childbirth and all manners of sexual behaviour both conventional and alternative, Romance walks the fragile line between art and exploitation.What makes this film a great story instead of a series of sex scenes is its emotional approach. Director Catherine Breillat, who explored the subject of teenage sexuality in 36 Fillette with frankness and earnesty, applies the same approach to the sexual frustrations depicted in Romance. The graphic nudity, then, becomes not exploitation but attention to detail, and Breillat's choice of covering scenes with a series of sequence shots (the average running time of singular shots in this film is in minutes, not seconds) gives this film a painfully immediate, real-time feel. The use of long takes without cuts could not have been easy given the graphic sexual acts the actors have to simulate in the film. And the sequence shots are highly appropriate to the performances, capturing the actors' every beat. Caroline Ducey gives a brave performance as Marie, the frustrated teacher who tries to rediscover sex within a stifling relationship. The pressure of the graphic scenes and the character's staggering vulnerability give her performance a charge, and it is to Ducey's credit that her character's heart says much more than her oft-displayed body. By the end of the film the ironic, seemingly exploitative slug line comes true: "Love is desolate, romance is temporary, sex is forever". The final sequence of the film actually proves this to be a sincere statement in a sly, but also emotive way.This film could never have been made on American soil -- pointing to the cultural difference between the Gallic and American film scenes. From this difference also comes explanation of why Romance, despite its sincerity and the depth of the characters, was received with such outrage here. In France, nudity has been naturalized -- it is no longer a shock to see frontal nudity and frank depictions of sex. In America, on the other hand, onscreen nudity is considered a special occasion, the "last resort". It is quite frankly unimaginable to me that an American actress would have consented to doing what Ducey does here -- the eternal question being "What can we get away with?" Well, sometimes you can't think in terms of what you can "get away with". Breillat and Ducey, by opting to expose the character as they must for her to come alive, make the question moot. Imagine Romance as an airbrushed Hollywood product, with artfully executed Nicolas Roeg-style montages and dissolves for the sex scenes, and the story will fall apart. Really, which is more exploitative: The painfully emotional scene in which Marie tries to get her boyfriend to desire her, or that bathtub scene in The English Patient, where a cut was specifically made so that the audience can see a naked Kristin Scott-Thomas rise from the tub from the front?All sociological comments, aside, Romance is a searing drama on relationships and sexuality, unwavering in its integrity, and challenging in its approach both to the audience and to the actors. Its greatest strength lies not in whether it's "sexy" or not -- but in its close, intimate examination of matters of the heart.

Good.

this is a film about sexual control and domination. the heroine is in submission to a sexy male boyfriend, who refuses to have sex with her as part of an obvious male power trip. forced to seek her freedom, she embarks on a variety of relationships, including a long term s&m affair and a random encounter in the street, that explore the limits of her control or lack of it. the denouement includes a sexy male boyfriend who finds himself interested but no longer in control, and a pregnancy, which in this film is the ultimate female burden and the ultimate female liberation. the lead is extremely well played, not all that physically attractive (she lacks the curves shown on the dvd cover!) but smoldering and sexy in a seemingly spontaneous way (she has two seduction scenes where her hair is her best asset). her pain is often subtly played, not with screaming but with resignation. the seduction "duel" between herself and the old lothario, where the issue is really who is seducing whom, is the erotic high point, nicely done. well worth seeing.

This shows everything, from bush, vagina, erections, to child birth. To realize that this was made in 1992, blows your mind. The fact that films like this aren't made in America in 2016 is astounding. I would remake this film today and it would be as Shocking then as it is now. I really enjoyed this movie and the beauty and darkness in ones view. I would recommend this to anyone with an open mind. Although it does remind you of how selfindolged the 90's was

you know, it was all right. the girl is pretty enough, but it's kind of a chick flick. it hints at some good erotica, but that's pretty much a mirage. flat out erotica is better than having to wade through all the boring b.s. to get to the what we're hoping to see. to illustrate, i'm considering giving the movie to a couple i know who just got married and are kind of christian as some low level, not very heavy soft core starter porn..... you know, i'd equate it with that nauseating crap, 50 shades of gray.'ppreciate your time.

like

This video came with high marks for its content being one of the best and most candid movies about sex and sexuality. One review even said it was quite possibly the sexiest movie ever made. I am by no means a prude; quite the contrary actually. My sense of this movie was that it was one of the worst portrayals of humanity related to sex I've ever seen. I have over 400 movies in my collection and a couple of them are pretty poor, but I keep them because the had at least a little redeeming value. I watched this movie waiting for the good part; the part where something shifted and we got to see some of the honest humanity there was supposed to be there. It never showed up or, if it did, I missed it because it was so far out of the mainstream that I couldn't recognize it. This is the first movie I've ever thrown away. I could have sent it back to the person I bought it from because the have a guaranteed return policy and they did their job perfectly. The biggest reason I threw it away is that I thought if I returned it, it would be just one more copy of the poorest movie ever made floating around waiting to strike another unsuspecting person.

The cover's sub-text states (a) love is desolate, (b) romance is temporary and (c) sex is forever. To me, this is pretentious. It suggests either a degree of titillation (placing emphasis on the sex) or a complete lack of belief in the emotional conditions of 'romance' and 'love'. What is in the film's favour is that (as in my other reviews of similar movies), the female perspective is worthy of exploration. The theme is one of unrequited love and desire from the man she clearly loves. This sends her to alternative erotic scenarios. If you want explicit sex, there's not much here, compared to others in the genre. An understanding of emotional and sexual disappointment is attempted.

Enjoyed the film

Der Film hat nicht mit Romance zutun aber das ist nicht der Fehler des Verkäufer, der Gute Leistung erreicht.

現在、これしか入手できない。

This film does not seem to be well-liked, and it's not hard to see why. The matter-of-fact depiction of loveless sex is likely to shock the shockable, whilst disappointing those in search of porn or eroticism. I rate it 5 star because I found it to realistically show the horror of unrequited love - not just the mental torture, but also the way it causes out-of - character behaviour - I am thinking not so much of the lead character's sex life, but of the way she drags around after the man she loves, even though she knows this is the exact opposite of what she should do, and will only make her situation worse; also of her silent (until the end) rage. I appreciated the attempt to truthfully depict a female psyche, and a women's rite of passage into self-determination. It is a little sad to find some reviewers saying this was unrealistic. Are we so accustomed to seeing female characters who are mere ciphers compared to the leading males, that we do not recognise a more realistic portrait when we see it?

Pas vraiment bon parce que il n'est pas un film lesbienne