Rating: 
Summary: An Original Look
Review: The film is undeniably graphic and blunt, and while I can't say I enjoyed it all that much, there's a great deal of depth in the material. The actors/actresses bare all and do all in this film, and I appreciated the fact that there is no sugar-coating in the plot. The film is worth a look, but only for the mature audience!
Rating:
Summary: She's More Than 'Dis-lex-ic'
Review: If you're looking for romance in Romance, forget it! Marie, the despairing and desperate heroine, is one unhappy warrioress. This young lady has become emotionally betrothed to a narcisstic male model who treats her with disdain by witholding both physical and emotional intimacy. Paul the model, doesn't abuse Marie in the normal sense: no, he succeeds in getting her bonded just enough to fully control her need for him by withdrawing what he has implicitly promised. Marie struggles mightily to recapture what has been lost....or stolen from her. Men are good at this game; just ask any woman.But here, in this artsy film, the French director has all the significant characters addressing their wants and needs in dissertation formats. Marie, a teacher of what appears to be a 3rd or 4th grade class of Parisians, has them conjugate the verb forms 'to be' and 'to have' with the added bonus of gracing their young minds with this thought: 'being is not having', 'having is not being', etc. Immediately we see how pleased these young philosophers are: finally, an adult who understands that not all issues are to be (there it is again) cloaked in black and white. Marie is not ashamed to admit she has flaws as a teacher: she can't write well or spell. She spells it out to the headmaster: I must be 'dis-lex-ic or something like that. Not to fret, though; this past middle-aged master can help. Not only is he an understanding Principal but a principled, experienced master of a sexual sphere beyond casual, a quest that Marie needs to begin to secure her release from Paul's captivity. The headmaster, by his account, has had "ten thousand women." And he remembers all of them; no, not their names and not their faces! Marie is soon to beomce ten thousand and the one. Romance doesn't hold back on the visuals; it's all here.......and more! Though there are obvious faked scenes of passion in Romance (true porn) some scenes are genuine. However, without the main performers all speaking in esoteric syntax, you would come close to seeing a basic porn flick in Romance. Marie does get her freedom, however, and Paul must pay dearly for the woman who loved him. But in the process a very minor character must also suffer loss with Paul; that I particularly didn't like. When does Marie have time to prepare her daily lesson plans? Perhaps every class session was devoted to making the distinction being 'being' and 'having'. It is a profound thought. If it's to be and you must have this Romance, then do it. Small town America video won't be stocking this one.
Rating:
Summary: I don't know what the fuss is all about?
Review: After seeing this movie on DVD, I was a little disappointed in it, the story line is good, the acting at times seems forced, but then the subject matter is sometimes overwhelming. They are a few scenes it that almost denied it a release here in Australia, but finally our censors saw the light and have let it be seen.
Rating: 
Summary: Not Worth A Rental
Review: This movie is a tedious monologue interrupted by some fairly explict sex scenes which are clinically presented (it's one of the points of the film) and whose novelty quickly wears thin. Stay away from this one.
Rating: 
Summary: Double standards
Review: Regarding the lack of a french subtitle in this DVD, I will only ask: why do you think it's suitable that all american movies distributed in DVD around the world, regardless of the region, include an english subtitle, whereas foreign movies released in U.S.A.(DVD-region 1 format) sistematically omits the subtitle in the original language? Let's assume you are saying to the whole world something like this: you do need to learn english, we don't have any remote intention of learning your language. I would most certainly call this attitude an example of double standards. Do as I say, not as I do myself. Cinema Paradiso is a good exception of this "golden rule" of yours. It does include an italian subtitle.
Rating:
Summary: Romance
Review: Highly Erotic.....very edgy. More skin in it than an NC17. Not a date movie! Something for a couple to read together.
Rating: 
Summary: not successful even in France
Review: If you're looking for something quite different from your usual Hollywood standard movie than this is a great pick. But unfortunately "different" does not always mean better. In this situation, it turns out to be much worse. Provocative, it is. Not because of the rather ugly sex scenes but because it is mostly degrading to women. But this may be excusable since the film is directed by a woman. More disturbing is the fact that this movie is presented to the American audience as an intellectual art French Film. Nothing like that, I'm afraid. French audiences passed it. Check it out but you don't have to like it to look intelligent.
Rating: 
Summary: Emotionally honest, sublimely performed and directed.
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Shockingly Immature
Review: I first wanted to see "Romance" when it was released as "the most explicit French film in along time". The characters talk as if they were profound and enlightening, but it all comes off as rather annoying. If you do decide to check out this film, however, DO NOT get the "R" rated version. It cuts out 14 minutes from the original, and those sequences are badly edited out. Overall, this is a mildly amusing glance into the pathetic life of a woman.
Rating:
Summary: Such a good film that the British censors let it through
Review: As you may or may not know, here in the UK we're not allowed toshow scenes of "hardcore" pornography, on the grounds thatthey're titillating and corrupting. For the first time in history, the censors have let a film contain such scenes, and that film is Romance. 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.
|
