04/14/06 Sex And Lucia

Sex And Lucia (2001), directed by Julio Medem

watched solo; DVD rental (Record Exchange) @ home

Intrigued by the fact that it was a foreign film, yes...plus it had the word "sex" in the title, which can either hurt or hinder a movie. I had heard very mixed reviews on the subject of the film as well, but I had some lonely free time to myself this evening for a second film, so I'm going on "sex" in the title alone. The story is a journey, and one that does not necessarily follow the path of least resistance. In fact, I think it does quite the opposite. The story involves one Lucia (Paz Vega) and her novelist boyfriend, who begin a romantic whirlwind of a relationship based on pure emotions and drastic measures of love. The novelist begins to write a tale of similar love that quickly engrosses both parties, and entertwines two worlds of reality and fiction until the lines become so blurred no one can tell the difference. And I do mean literally blurred...as most of the film jumps in & out of dream sequences, underwater love/rescue scenes, blinding bright landscapes, and silhouettes. All of the emotions of the characters, and their alter-egos, are played out in sexuality and sensuality. When her novelist boyfriend is near death from a car accident, Lucia escapes to her refuge of a beautiful island guest house...where you guessed it, she meets more characters (real, fake, who knows) that send her head spinning in more directions. A bit dizzying, but with some moments of cinematic beauty. It's foreign, so yeah they get artsy & naked. A long strange trip to get there though.

3 out of 5 stars