Q

Wow, other reviewers see this as pornography. Take another look. It's about connection and disconnection in French society, in which sex and discussions about sex are used as a central vehicle for showing relations between men and women in French society (or at least younger ones). Note that the director never shows anything above the waist of the nude women in the shower chattering away about sex and men. Note that all the characters are missing each other needs and hence at odds and frustrated. Note the scene in the plaza where everyone is self-absorbed. Note that the author starts the movie with a message that he still believes love is possible.

Where the movie fails most is not in its failure to do more than vaguely allude to the background situation - unemployment and a shipyard strike. Why those are even there is never clarified. Rather, it was the director's inability to bring the story to completion without implanting an implausibly happy ending that left me wondering what was the point of it all. If French social relations are pretty much the same as they were 25 years ago, then the director's gotten quite a bit right. Unfortunately, he didn't know where to go with it. That's why, in spite of the good acting (for the most part), I gave it only six stars.

I viewed the Strand Releasing version, which was stated to have toned down the sex scenes. Their version is still a pretty strong R film with plenty of nudity. There are intermittent B&W nude scenes set in a shower where they are frankly discussing men and their desires. The film is about young people in France, during a time of strikes and unemployment, so they are mainly jobless and aimless, at times destructive and obsessed with lust. The men talk primarily about getting "it", and the women want more then a simple coupling, and also seem to understand the power they have over the men when they withhold themselves. The passionate scenes between them seemed to have feelings that simple porn movies never have. I really liked the one scene where the mother was concerned about what her daughter might be doing with her boyfriend, and the father then assures his daughter that he and her mother also played around. There is an error with one of the women, when she says she needs her glasses to see, and then for the rest of the film is not wearing glasses (she was told she looked better without glasses.) Movie with subtitles.

I really liked this film. It was shot in lovely locations in the French countryside, on the beach-front and in little town cafés, and it featured a host of beautiful actors and actresses (many of them non-professional). Yes there is a lot of explicit (non-simulated) sex and nudity throughout but for a film which is about exploring the central role of sexuality in our modern lives it makes sense and I didn't find it either offensive or pornographic. Though very sexually explicit the scenes were tasteful and beautifully shot. It was also quite a funny film. You could definitely watch this with your girlfriend or boyfriend.

I wish all countries could treat sexuality in a matter-of-fact way like this as the French do.

I guess if you can make it past the first 20 minutes then it might be interesting to watch.

Director Laurent Bouhnik had an interesting idea, but it didn't translate well on screen. I consider almost every aspect of this film a very rough draft.

1. Character development is almost non-existent. 2. The narrative is choppy and many scenes are unnecessary. 3. The plot lacks direction. 4. The acting is okay at best. 5. None of the characters are particularly likable.

Bottom Line: I've read several reviews that praise this film for it's success in it's depiction of eroticism, however, Bouhnik's overly-heavy focus on sex and erotic behavior doesn't leave enough room for the characters or the story to develop properly. I will admit that there are several (individual) scenes that are strong--diamonds in the rough, if you will--but when the film was over, I had taken nothing from it, felt nothing during it, and was generally uninterested in the story and the characters.