ROMANCE

"We meet Marie and Paul amidst a heated confrontation over the fact he won't screw her anymore. Later, as Marie narrates her thoughts, we learn she loves and hates Paul in equal measure - complex feelings we can understand. But that's about as much as we learn about this hollow, manufactured relationship. We never discover Paul's motivation, or indeed, anything much about Paul, which, since this is the trigger for the film's main plot line of Marie's sexual experiments, is a serious omission. Paul is a cardboard creation of a feminist filmmaker's view of a dickhead male. Marie's love for him is stated but never shown except as sexual expression (fallacio attempt, Nos 1 and 2). This is not surprising; we see nothing of Paul that is likeable, let alone loveable. Hell, we see nothing much of him except his dancing and his penis. Marie is not much more multi dimensional, either. Some see this is a valid device for a film exploring sexual powerplay in a serious manner. But to me, this critical weak point, coupled with the fact that every conversation in the film is purely about sex - at arms length, as it were, from romance - affects the film's viability. I am not at all sure what Catherine Breillat really intends. Romance is about a lot of sexual things, but feminist empowerment is not one of them. Nor do I agree with the majority of critics (some on this page included) who see the film as a robust tour of female sexuality. I see Romance, complete with the overstated irony of the title, as a confused journey around the abstract of sexuality, as opposed to sexuality itself. By giving Marie an introspective (and sometimes pretentious) narrator's voice, for example, Breillat lifts the graphic sexual activity on camera from porn to arthouse, but does nothing to put it in the context of either Marie's overall life or of ours. Without context, there is no truth. "For me romance is the illusion of love," explains Breillat. Hence the title, but she seems confused about the role of sex in that illusion. She wants to show us sex without the illusion of romance, but porn already does that. Ironically, she has made a film that gives the illusion of being a serious exploration of sex. The best part of Romance is the wry humour and credible insight into S&M; Francois Berleand, playing a teacher at Marie's school, is the best drawn character in the film, making Marie's excursion into this taboo area the only genuine element in the film. He is also the only character who has any tangible humanity. Yet it is he, not Marie, who embodies the absence of romance or illusion - and has something to say about sexuality in the process. "
Andrew L. Urban

"Romance is a strangely dispassionate work of contradictions, whose controversy and bravura is the mainstay of its substance. Catherine Breillat has focused on the shock value of exposing male and female genitalia in graphic sexual activity. I think Breillat must hate men – everything about the script points to that. Men are portrayed as wimps, sex maniacs, perverts and wankers – all in stereotype form: these characters in the context of the story are hardly believable. The central role of Marie, however, has more believability – a curious mix of confused vulnerability, fragility and insecurity. Marie is demanding, she seeks sexual fulfillment, but is at odds with how the physical desires and moral issues of self-respect fit together. Her obsession with sex is in part a love/hate relationship with herself – mostly self-loathing. Why is it that it's the scumbags who understand us, she asks? Directed in a static, non erotic way, as if to allow us to witness events without the imprint of cinematic language or emotion, Breillat's thrust (pun intended) is for shock value. Too much. Some may call it brave – others, including me, overkill. Perhaps Breillat is too close to her project. Be prepared for penises – flaccid and gigantic, condoms, penetration from various angles, masturbation, oral sex and a display of S & M. But it's far from being a peep show, nor is it titillating: it's strident, heavy handed and dished out as a misguided feminist sexual statement. The sexual intensity of Romance can be compared to Head On, its promiscuous controversy to that of Breaking the Waves, its voyeurism to Eyes Wide Shut and its fantasy to that of Feeling Sexy. It is a film you elect to see, not to enjoy it, but to enjoy talking ABOUT it. There is a valid opinion to be made and expressed. It may not be a comfortable experience, but one worthy of discussion and debate."
Louise Keller