April 2000

Romance
Reviewed by Roger Kanno
DVD Format

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Starring Caroline Ducey, Sagamore Stévenin, François Berléand, Rocco Siffredi

Directed by Catherine Breillat

Theatrical Release: 1999
DVD Release: 1999
Dolby Digital Stereo
Widescreen

A woman walks into a bar and locks eyes with a total stranger. The man walks over to the woman and strikes up a conversation. Within a few minutes they are making out at the table and in the next scene he is feeling her up inside her car. This is Romance, a French film written and directed by Catherine Breillat that is at once repellant and intriguing in the way that it explores sexual relationships. Contrary to its title, Romance is not romantic at all, but is instead a very bleak and desolate film. Be forewarned that there are some hardcore sex scenes in this film, but they are not very erotic and are not meant to be. If you are looking for a film that will arouse and titillate, you would be better off getting a porno. This is a film that is about the ugly side of relationships and how sex can be used as a manipulative tool.

Caroline Ducey (sometimes credited as Caroline Trousselard) plays Marie, a school teacher who is frustrated by the lack of physical intimacy with her boyfriend Paul (Sagamore Stévenin). Her frustration leads to an escalating series of sexual encounters with other men that are destructive and unfulfilling. Watching all this is a difficult experience. Paul has some psychological problems to be sure, but he is a cold, unfeeling bastard nonetheless and Marie is just really messed up. Some of the things that they say and do to each other just made me cringe. However, one thing that Romance does do that a movie like Crash does not, is give us insight into the motivation of its characters. In this way, even if we cannot sympathize with them, we can at least understand the rationalization for their actions no matter how deviant they may be.

The picture quality of this disc exhibits good sharpness and detail, but the colors are a bit washed out and sometimes the picture exhibits a green hue during darker scenes. The soundtrack is recorded in Dolby Surround, but it is barely stereo at times with the center channel reproducing much of the onscreen action. For example, during the night club scenes, most of the music emanates from the center channel providing an almost mono music track. When music is presented in stereo as in the final scene of the film, the sound fades distractingly in and out of each channel. Most foreign releases do not have the same quality of audio and video production as major Hollywood releases and as such the video quality of Romance is acceptable, but the audio is disappointing and detracts from the presentation of the film.

This DVD is nearly devoid of any extras except for the "Original Artwork" which consists of the film’s promotional poster. An English soundtrack is provided, but I find dubbed soundtracks distracting and chose the original French soundtrack and just read the subtitles that are provided in English (Spanish and French subtitles are also included).

Romance is a difficult film to characterize. It is probably not a film that would have ever been made in North America due to its graphic sexual content and controversial subject matter. It also has a few rough edges in direction and story development, but it does provide a character study that is disturbing yet strangely compelling. If you are looking for a film that will challenge you and which also pushes the envelope of what is acceptable in cinema, then Romance is for you.

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