Romance : Catherine Breillat

I was in great distressed after watching Catherine Breillat's philosophical erotic drama "Romance" (1999), not because it showed explicitly graphic copulation and brutal sex scenes but because I was struggling to reach a comprehension that could one differ the merging layer of pornographically acted film with narratively featured film.

However, as  I am writing short review on it then it's evidently clear that I got a clearance green signal on that there are no other possible way to filming the narrative which deals with such issues like feminine sexuality being rejected by male impotency and medical examination by male docotrs and masculine aggressive sexual attitude being exploited by superior men and brutally raped by pervarted strangers ; on the other hand ploygamy and adultery with love or lust  which are open secret to all.

The question is if film as an art is an aesthetic reflection of reality then the narrative forms and cinematic styles of Romance is a full deviation from the pornography. Here is its utmost perfection that feels appearntly pornographic but essentially its a film about the fragmented journey of human sexuality. 

It's a sheer surprise when I came to know tha Jean-Luc Godard, the legendary french filmmaker,  was proposed first for the role of the head teacher which was played by Francois Berleand. Even Godard read the script.

In the 2023 Cannes Film Festival, Breillat will compete with her new film Last Summer (2023), hoping this one will also be a revolutionary representation of human body and its existential certainty not crisis in the human experiences.

🎬Romance [1999]

Catherine Breillat

French, Fance.