CompleteMartialArts.com - Romance
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Manufacturer: Lions Gate
Starring: Caroline Ducey, Sagamore Stévenin, François Berléand, Rocco Siffredi, Reza Habouhossein
Directed By: Catherine Breillat
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1
Audience Rating: Unrated
Binding: DVD
Brand: ROMANCE (DVD MOVIE)
EAN: 9781573627771
Format: Closed-captioned
ISBN: 1573627771
Label: Lions Gate
Manufacturer: Lions Gate
Number Of Items: 1
Picture Format: Letterbox
Publisher: Lions Gate
Region Code: 1
Release Date: 2002-02-05
Running Time: 84
Studio: Lions Gate
Theatrical Release Date: 1999
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Editorial Reviews:
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Claiming he lived her but that he has lost his desire for her Matie s boyfriend Pul refuses to engage in sexual relations catapulting Matie into a desperate search for intimacy and erotic connection. Marie s escalating sexual journey tests he own physical and emotional limits and through and ironic twist-of-fate eventually leads her to fulfillmentSystem Requirements: Running Time 98 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre:Â DRAMA Rating:Â NR UPC:Â 031398724933
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Who's perverted?
Comment: Is Marie (Caroline Ducey) perverted because she wants to be used and abused, or is it her boyfriend Paul (Sagamore Stévenin) who is perverted because he denies her the love she craves because of his need to control? Or is it Robert (François Berléand) who has spent a lifetime chasing and seducing women? Or is it director Catherine Breillat herself who in France is sometimes known as a "porno auteuriste"?
Or, better yet, is it the debased mind of the censor, the prude and the hypocrite who would deny the range of human sexuality?
From Breillat's point of view, it is the censors who create the concept of obscenity.
I have to say however that some movies are so graphically sexual that it is difficult to watch them without being aroused, and this is such a movie, the most pornographic movie that I have ever seen that was not pornography per se.
Candor about sexuality is not what most people want. Even rarer is it for a woman to be candid about her sexuality in a forum that might include men. The fact that Catherine Breillat directed this film does not mean in any way that the sexuality of the central character is Breillat's sexuality, but it does mean she understands that sexuality; and since it is presented in a sympathetic manner, it means that she believes it is true at least for some women, at least some of the time.
In effect the movie asks the politically incorrect question, do women want to be used and abused? Breillat's cinematic answer is a bit of equivocation. I think what she is saying is, it depends. For even asking such questions Breillat has experienced hatred and been denied funding. But she says "All true artists are hated. Only conformists are ever adored."
Marie's boyfriend who is pretty and very attractive to most women will not have sex with her. Not completely. He frustrates her for no apparent reason. He seems almost pathological in his disinterest in her. She feels not just rejected but inadequate and of course frustrated. She is crazy about him and does everything she can to interest him, but to no avail. A game begins: but we see only her side of the game. His side is hardly present, but there is this blond-haired male friend that he likes to hang out with. Perhaps Paul is gay and doesn't know it or doesn't want to admit it.
Marie first tries a guy in a bar. It doesn't work out because there is no feeling on her part aside from...aside from what? From a desire to hurt Paul? To prove to herself that she is attractive? Then there is Robert the older man who claims to have had sex with 10,000 women although he is anything but handsome. This reminds me of the French novelist Georges Simenon who made the same claim in much the same way. Incidentally 10,000 women is approximately one a day for thirty years, which (pre Viagra) is sometimes thought of as the length of a man's sexually active life. Some readers may recall these lines from the poem "Go and Catch a Falling Star" by John Donne:
"Ride ten thousand days and nights,
Till age snow white hairs on thee,
Thou, when thou return'st, wilt tell me,
All strange wonders that befell thee,
And swear,
No where
Lives a woman true, and fair."
Or the reader may be reminded of the "ten thousand things" from the East. In other words, ten thousand is a number that means "many," but many in a very human way.
At any rate, this man Robert is past the time in his life when he can, shall we say, perform. But he knows women and he discerns Marie's desires which are to be taken completely. He ties her up and she finds that she likes it, etc.
Well, what's the resolution? How should this end? Should Paul wake up and really love her? Or will she finally get completely disgusted with him and leave? Or will he wake up and then be found boring. Is that what he is afraid of?
The way Breillat chooses to end the film is both a bit too easy and yet seems apt. Notice that the title "Romance" is a kind of sardonic take on the "pornography" of romance novels. Romance novels fulfill the wishes of the feminine reader but in a euphemistic and unspecific way. The "hard" sex that Breillat presents (in a mostly soft way) in this film is only hinted at in romance novels.
On the other hand, clearly in keeping with a good ending from a woman's point of view (in so far as a "good" ending is possible in this film) is the fact that Marie ends up with what in evolutionary psychology is called having her cake and eating it too. She receives superior genes (or at least very attractive genes) for reproduction while winning the support of the man who will take care of her and her child. In this case these are two different men. Guess which one is which.
Be forewarned that this is a MOST explicit film sexually speaking and will offend many viewers.
One final question: did she have to kill the cat?
Customer Rating:
Summary: save your money, this is a loser
Comment: This is horrible, absolutely nothing sexy about it. At one point you see a GYN exam, how the heck does anyone think that is sexy! The female star is as weak a character as you ever saw.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Not Romance
Comment: This movie was one of the worst movies me and my brother watched by far. Some people might like it but to us. IT plain sucked.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Tied to Love (ha...ha...ha)
Comment: During the past year or so I have watched three films directed by Breillat, Fat Girl, A Real Young Girl, and now Romance. Fat Girl, while it leaned heavily towards the realm of exploitation films because of its sexual content, had, in my opinion, by its depiction of how the sexual awakening of a younger generation can be staunched by an older one and how sexuality is expressed through food and its consumption. A Real Young Girl, Breillat's debut film caused quite a stir in France and in Europe because of its unadulterated depictions of a young girl's sexual awakenings, but, in my opinion, this film lacks the artistic merit of the other two films. Romance, while the filming is beautiful and quite well done and the actors and actresses are quite aesthetically pleasing, it falls short in my opinion.
Romance concerns the life of Marie, a young schoolteacher who has been in a sexually intense relationship with her model boyfriend Paul for six months. Things seem to be going quite well, but one day Paul informs Marie that he is going to cease having sexual relations with her because he is used up. He loves her still, but he no longer has sexual desire for her. This disturbs the quite sexually active Marie who attempts to stimulate her boyfriend only to be rejected. While not engaging in sex with her, Paul enjoys himself by going to dance clubs, drinking, and reading Charles Bukowski at sushi restaurants. Marie almost wishes that he would sleep with someone else so she can get angry with him, but she believes that she can only be with Paul.
However, in order to fill her desire, Marie begins sleeping around. First sheep sleeps with the "gifted" Paolo, but her main attraction is with Robert, a co-worker who claims to have slept with 10,000 women and who introduces her to sado-masochism. However, she remains unfulfilled. Will Paul regain his sexual desire for her or will she keep sleeping with any man she comes in contact with?
I guess the weakest aspect of the film to me is Paul. Although handsome, he comes off as a complete jerk and makes me really wonder why Marie wants to be with him. Also, the pacing is quite slow and at points Marie wallowing in her own pity becomes a bit too much. With that, however, I would recommend this to the fans of Breillat's films, or edgy contemporary French films in particular.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Good Service
Comment: I orderded a movie fom Amazon and it arrived at my door promptly as promised
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