Film: Romance

[captainballs]

Film: Romance (1999)

Here's a good one from the late nineties that was unfortunately overshadowed by the fact that it showed an erect penis or three (I wasn't counting).

When I was 16 I first saw this movie, and I thought it was good for all of the most retarded reasons. Actually, the version I saw in the U.S. wasn't even that "obscene" because the most revealig scenes were entirely deleted.

Last night, I saw the director's cut for the first time, and finally appreciated the movie for what it's worth. Not because it had more of the good (and bad) stuff than the U.S. release, but because I really don't think I was mature enough to understand what was going on with the characters when I was 16. But it's worth watching, for sure. It's more than just another bullshit foreign film with lots of silence. Almost anyone would be interested from the very beginning (the film hooks you, I don't know how), which is suprising for a movie about a girl whose husband won't fuck the living daylights out of her.

But there's more to the film than shock value - it's an interesting take on relationships, even if the main character (a woman) does stereotype women to death (in her narrative) as wannabe sex objects with lame husbands. This isn't what the point of the movie is, though. If you watch this movie, there are some quotes you will never forget - it's really good.

 

[posner]

Really? I thought this movie was horrible. Breillat's movies are sensational, but boring and shocking for shock's sake. I have never even begun to care about any of her characters.

 

[captainballs]

I've never seen any other of this director's movies, but I have to disagree with the "horrible" label. You didn't see anything redeeming or interesting about the characters in this movie? It's probably not for everyone - I can understand how a lot of people could write it off as shocking for shock's sake, but I just have to disagree.

It's not a revolutionary movie, or top ten of all time, but it's still better than most.

 

[intothevoid]

i actually found this movie pretty booring.

care to elaborate about what you enjoyed so much?
what are these awesome quotes?

i did like her films "a ma soir" and "anatomy of hell" better, but i still found them very ambiguous and didnt quite get the point.
i was assuming the director was trying to make a statement of some sort?

 

[captainballs]

I'm really not sure, and this post should come with a disclaimer because I really like stuff like Justin Timberlake, but I'll give it a shot:

Why this movie is good by captainballs:

Both my roommate and I felt like we could really relate to the lead character - how she wants to be fucked really hard and without love, although secretly I can relate to the stupid boyfriend (shhhh) because of his lack of sex drive and need to simply conquer a woman and then become totally sexually uninterested in her. With regard to the kinds of people that unfortunately find themselves in my general vicinity on a regular basis (not many), this movie strikes a chord. Plus, the last girl I slept with claims that the only way she likes to be fucked is"ridiculously hard and only for a minute, and don't stop when I scream (even if it sounds bad), etc." Obviously, this is a demented person relative to most people, but a real person nonetheless. Most people just can't believe that there are people as ridiculous as the chick in this movie and her boyfriend. But in real life, I believe that these two personality types exist pretty regularly on planet earth, and I always like watching movies that exemplify the relationships of stereotypically atypical people so perfectly.

I don't think there are any super-large messages in this movie. I just think it's more of a canned soap opera that is made by certain kinds of people, for certain kinds of people. Most people are pretty holistically "human," or like to pretend to be, and this movie really doesn't really cater to that type of audience in any way. For this reason, it may appear pretty shallow (and whatever other connotations that come with shallow).

Like most things I seriously enjoy, I can completely understand why most people don't like this movie at all.

Regarding your last point, I'm currently going through a phase where I enjoy movies that don't necessarily have to drive home a concise point to be intrinsically interesting. It started with recently watching "Eyes Wide Shut" for the first time in like 8 years. Sure, the movie is saying something (I guess), but it's so damn good on its own that I really don't care what the message is. The message in that movie, like "Romance" seems to be more complicated than a "point." These movies are more like relationship-documentaries, and the only point is for you to soak in the elements of the characters, even if sometimes they appear to be really simple.

It's hard to put into words, which is weird because I analyze the shit out of a lot of movies (successfully in my opinion), but I just know it when I see it, and Romance is fun. I love how sick the characters are, but how they act just as people like that would (and attract the same type of people that they would in real life).


Awesome quotes: can't remember, but one of my favorites has something to do with "Penises being so ugly after they've been used" or something like that. I think the main chick makes some interesting points too about how men (in her perspective) can't match a vagina with a face. They can love a face, and they can fuck a vagina, but they can't do both to the same person (or something like that). No real message - this is one twisted person's perspective on film, although she likes to recite her narrative as though the director intends for us to take it seriously as some microcosm of the whole planet's sex relations.