Her (Nathalie Baye) places an ad in a magazine looking for a sexual partner to share her fantasy. He (Sergi Lopez) responds. They meet in a bistro on a gray afternoon in Paris and proceed to a nearby hotel. Their coupling is very
satisfactory to them and they proceed to other encounters. All this is told in flashback with both speaking separately, and wistfully about what happened
and how it ended.
This is a fascinating story, appealingly told with sureness by director Frederic Foteyne and his attractive, expressive leads. Yes, their affair is casual, sexual and without the usual "meeting cute" baggage. Actually, I thought she was the engine that began and ended the affair. Lopez's character seems to be far more emotionally involved as the affair progress than Baye's. He responds to her
responding to him and you can see him falling for her. Her speech to him about her feelings is quite startling and you think, maybe he's going to seek her
commitment.
A happy ending, though this is not one of those silly tearjerkers where you sit there embarrassed, would have been wrong and it's very satisfying. I loved this small, quiet, movie. The sex is very discreet. The dialoge is direct and thank goodness this is not a wordy movie. It doesn't need it. It's got a very good director in control of his material and two fine leads who tell you all you need to know.
I just discovered Sergi Lopez was the villain in DIRTY PRETTY THINGS. He's a terrific screen presence.
Someone mentioned CHAOS (in connection with their review of this film),
another French film I recently discovered. Two more mature, well-written, well- acted and directed films could not be imagined. Highly recommended.
