Romance (1999)

Same as the likewise French exploitationer "Baise-moi", which was released almost at the same time as this movie, there are some scenes of hardcore pornography added. But as "Baise-moi" only concentrates on surface visuals the message of "Romance" is to explain the emotional conflict of love and sexuality between men and women - told from a female point of view.

A strange film at all, but also very fascinating and interesting executed - as long as you can put up its long dialogue-sequences, the sometimes metaphoric style and the fact that "Romance" is quite difficult to watch... Not the kind of stuff you´re normally used to enjoy as pure entertainment, because you´ll need time and nerves to sit this through..!

8/10

Fmovies: This is the second Breillat movie I've seen. And I already agree with the haters. Catherine Breilat is a pretentious hack, and this movie proves it. Watching this film, I kept thinking "Breillat needs to get laid, so that she can stop making these 'MEN ARE EVIL!' films".

My first Breillat experience was Anatomy of Hell, and it was the biggest hogwash ever. It was like the porn version of the Lifetime network. I decided not to let one bad experience ruin it for me, so I watched Fat Girl and Romance, both left me feeling as though I wasted time and money.

The movie has no plot except some woman being upset with her love life. The cover's statement "the sexiest movie ever made" is a flat out lie. There's NOTHING sexy in the movie. The sexiest thing in the movie is the cover art and that's it. The sex scenes are boring too, none of which are erotic.

As for Catherine Breillat. I know her object is to explore Female Sexuality and that's not a bad thing. But the way she does it, it's like a parody of European Art House Cinema. I think she's faking the whole feminist angle so that she can get attention from art house seekers. Dude, do you know what would happen if a guy made a film about women the same way Breillat makes movies about men? He'd be torn to shreds. But with Cathy, it's "intellectual". Yawn. Someone needs to slap Cathy upside the head and tell her that not all men are the evil creatures she makes them out to be. If anyone actually thinks Breillat is intellectual, then they don't know what "intellectual" is. "Something something Vagina, Something something Penis, Something Something Woman, Something something Vagina and Man" is NOT intellectual. It's just "I hate men" droning.

Do not give your money to this pretentious hack or a filmmaker. Even Uwe Boll and Uli Lommel make better movies.

The erotic scenes in this movie are splendid. The actress and the director can explore female psychology in a way that men can understand. This is a movie that shows eroticism in all its beauty without vulgarity. Very good script by Catherine Breillat. The dialogues are putting in place the exact atmosphere.

Romance fmovies. Men hate it. Probably because it's not quite the pornography its detractors accuse it of. Women love it. Because it restores a woman's voice to the erotic? It also offers insultingly implausible solutions to genuine traumas; lacks the empathetic courage to embrace the dreamlike possibilities of its heroine's quest; and suggests motherhood as a woman's most fulfilling role. The film only becomes dull in the second half, and is more amusing than you might think, but the dreary visuals, trite metaphors, unimaginative use of voiceover and dialogue, and self-pitying acting soon become enervating.

Romance achieved a lot of attention in Australia as it was initially banned. Now it's available from any decent video store so every adult can see what the fuss was all about. I think few of them will be able understand why the censors had so much problem with it. Basically you have several hard-ons and a bit of bondage in the middle of a talky French art-house movie. The fundamental problem with Romance is we can never understand what Marie sees in Paul. It's as simple as that. If we COULD understand then perhaps we'd have a provocative and thought-provoking examination of love, sex, loyalty and betrayal. But we don't. It's not to say the movie isn't worth watching, just don't expect too much. Last Tango In Paris was much braver and confronting (albeit less explicit) nearly thirty years ago. Closer to home, Breaking The Waves shares some similar themes and situations, and is a much more successful and emotionally involving experience.

Though I have a comprehensive review below I wanted to add that some comments here are from people who saw a severely edited version of the film (the sex scenes removed or cropped off). This would be similar to removing the battle scenes from Star Wars.