Ensofter Overrated and overhyped

UnowPriceless hyped garbage

Reptileenbu Did you people see the same film I saw?

Voxitype Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

itamarscomix Une Liaison Pornographique (A Pornographic Affair - please disregard the awful title 'An Affair of Love', which shows that the distributors either didn't watch the movie or didn't pay attention) is one of the most earnest, most naturalistic portrayals I've seen on film of a sexual relationship, and in that respect it's much more successful than English-speaking films (American and otherwise) that tried for something similar - films like Better Than Sex and Strictly Sexual, which attempted to shed Hollywood's romantic vision of sex, but ended up adhering to it anyway. As the female lead in Une Liaison Pornographique says in one of the film's key lines, sex in movies is either heaven or hell, but in real life it's usually somewhere in-between. The film shows that in-between with brutal honesty, neither idealizing it nor demonizing it, and manages a touching, frustrating, bleak portrayal of a subject that is at the heart of human nature and yet so difficult to handle in film.Unfortunately, the refreshing realism and honesty, and the naturalistic performance of the two leads, aren't quite enough to make for a great film; the script just isn't good enough. The film is too short, not taking enough time to fully explore the relationship between the two leads, and yet it also feels excruciatingly long - large chunks of it are just not interesting enough. In the end it turn out to be a pretty frustrating and unfulfilling experience - partly intentional, to be sure, but that isn't quite enough to help overcome that feeling of dissatisfaction. I can't help but recommend the film for its stronger aspects, despite the fact that I can't honestly say I enjoyed it; and I can't shake the feeling that it could have been much better than it is.

postmanwhoalwaysringstwice Sometimes it seems that only the Europeans can get away with making a film as surface simple as "An Affair of Love" (AKA "Une Liaison Pornographique"). It tells the story of a woman and a man who meet for sex through a personal ad. Week after week they meet in a coffee shop then hike down the street to a hotel. It's got a certain "Last Tango in Paris" kind of flavor, with the sex-only connection between two otherwise mysterious characters being the most obvious core. Unlike that film "An Affair of Love" only briefly conveys any on screen sex, and tiptoes around it in dialogue. What really makes this film so European, though, is how it's told through flashback via an unexplained and unnecessary interview. It's a character-driven, reasonably romantic film that feels made by deft filmmakers, but a forced second act dramatic twist ruins its impact.

Henry Fields In a few years they made two movies that had similar plots: "Intimacy" and this "A Liason Pornographique". A man and a woman meet once in a week for one simple reason: to have sex. No love, no feelings... just sex. "Intimacy" was more pessimistic and dark, and maybe "A Lisaon" is more frivolous and absurd, and it looks more like a romantic comedy. Also the narration is pretty artificial: a fake interview with the main characters and a series of flashbacks.It's a pretty nice reflection on how much we complicate things such as love or sex. It's been filmed in a modern style and it has a "trance" soundtrack that it will sound old fashioned in a few years.*My rate: 6/10

dea_david77 A movie about all of us - what we dream of doing, do for real or envy others who do it. The mere meetings of the couple are the fantasy. It's an everyday matter to experience a blind date, but it's a one-to-a thousand chance that it will be so perfect. Its perfection makes the ending so tragic. I was to a great extent shocked by the anonymity, in which the couple exists. And how can "he" realize that he doesn't know neither her name, nor her telephone numbler, nor ...anything, after so many months of regular closeness?! This movie definitely moved me with the simplicity of the story and the tragedy of human misunderstanding. Again, I was fascinated by the beauty of European films.