The point is, of course, that the scenes aren't titillating- in fact, they are quite horrifying in places. The whole film is a journey into the dark side of female sexuality, and (speaking as a heterosexual male) it can become highly disturbing.

The plot, briefly: our heroine (?) is told that her boyfriend loves her but doesn't want to have sex with her. In emotional turmoil, she has a series of sexual encounters, increasingly degrading and bizarre, as she tries to find a link between her twin needs for sexual satisfaction and emotional fulfilment.

Excellent cinematography and a bleak script; by far the best film I saw last year, and probably the best I'll see again this year.


Acurate Dipiction of the Sexual Woman's Mind   December 19, 1999
 144 out of 159 found this review helpful

This is the psychological journey of a passionate woman whose lover refuses her any form of physical pleasure. Because of her emotional ties to him, and her hesitance to leave him only because of sex, she persues a twisted series of sexual affairs in search of some relief for her desire. The movie makes phenomenal observations about women, who according to the main character, wish to live with the top half of their bodies near their loved ones in a picturesque romance world, and the lower half in the dark corners of wild sexual freedom. This is the first movie I have ever seen that addresses the dark natures of woman's sexuality without degrading or pitying her. Plus, the film is well made, the plot is interesting, and it will leave you feeling quite differently about the way you treat your woman.


Emotionally honest, sublimely performed and directed.   February 10, 2000
 67 out of 71 found this review helpful

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.


A Huge Waste of Time   May 5, 2000
 56 out of 80 found this review helpful

The only thing disturbing about this movie is how bad it is. This is a story about a clingy school teacher who has a obvious case of low self esteem and her male model boyfriend. He won't have sex with her, so she goes on this "dark journey" to explore her sexuality and ultimately finds herself. As absurd as the plot may be, the whole movie would have been palatable if the character were at least sympathetic, Unfortunately they are not. Throughout the movie, you find the heroine whine on about how much she loves her boyfriend, who is an obvious prick, and have sex with highly unattractive males because she loves her boyfriend. Why? What's her motivation? Do I really care? No! In fact, I wouldn't have cared less if all the character in this movie committed suicide within first ten minutes of this movie. The characters have nothing to say. They are two dimensional and flat. There is nothing shocking here, it's just boring. If it's sex you are after, go watch a porn flick, If it's art house sex you want, 'My Night at Maud's' is a far more interesting film. If it's art house sex and cinematography then check out 'last tango in paris'


Well......Uh.....   March 28, 2002
 33 out of 37 found this review helpful

This is quite a depressing movie, i've got to say. The title "Romance" is an almost humorous irony, especially after having seen the film: being that I cannot really describe what the movie is REALLY about, I will have to leave it up to you, the movie-watching audience, to decide for yourself. My under-qualified interpretation is that it is a tale about a fairly average woman who, suffocating in a sex-less and purposeless relationship with her boyfriend, goes on some kind of sexual and emotional pilgrimage....all in all, the movie's focus is on sex, emotions, and inner conflict: it's seen from a very psychological standpoint. There is very little information on the people themselves, and you are often left wondering how events get from point A to point B.
This is a quite graphic film, at least for a movie that is readily available not as pornography or even shock art, but as an independent film. There are a lot of bare organs and naked parts, so be warned. I wouldn't really call the movie pornographic, and here's why: there's no sex in this film. While there may be scenes with sexual content, the manner in which the main character portrays herself as disinterested and actually miserable during the love-making process, leaves me to feel that this is merely an artistic portray of sex as a form of punishment and self-loathing, for the way in which the woman in the film pursues literal strangers and engages in cold and purposeless intercourse, is, in my opinion, not at all what I would call sex. Sex, to me, is an emotional, energetic, enlightening experience, something to be enjoyed. The main character is actually seeking out to torture, punish, destroy herself, by engaging in random sex acts, as well as various bondage scenes. This is not erotic at all: it is frightening, even horrifying at times. What i'm getting at is that this movie is very depraved and often depressing to a great point.
The main character is, in my opinion, the least appealing of the film. She's just so....drab, gloomy, and saddening. The older man in the film is an interesting guy, mainly because he portrays himself as 'the ugly guy who gets all of the chicks by being smooth', full of lines about his sexual conquests and about basically everything else he can get in, yet can also be warm and considerate. The boyfriend is basically a jerk who thinks too highly of himself, and yet thinks that he knows everything there is to know about women, while ironically he is the purpose that his lover is so frustrated, because he DOESNT understand her at all.
About the scenes: the shots are long, brooding, often without dialog, and there's one scene in particular, where the woman is tied up, and is drowning in a state of misery, which you can see in her sad and defeated eyes. I was shocked and disturbed through-out much of the film.
The translation and the subtitles are perhaps the worst feature, if you don't include the fact that the DVD has absolutely no extras whatsoever (unless you consider that the disc itself is the 'directors cut', which I don't think of as an extra, but a necessity). The dubbing itself is fine, the main character's voice actor is quite good, while some of the male 'partners' voices are a little on the stupid side, perhaps from the ridiculous lines that they utter. The most bothersome feature is that the subtitles are almost completely different than what is being spoken.
All in all, it is a deep film, without the characters themselves really being very deep: the subject matter, the thoughts and feelings portrayed not through words but through gestures....it's quite an artsy film. I'd say, if you are into movies which leave you feeling reeled-over from shock and disgust, but also to a degree enlightened, i'd say go for it. Again, I warn you that there is a lot of nudity in the film, as well as strong language.