Romance is a story about Marie, a schoolteacher who is in love with Paul. The conflict of the film is common, Paul is too self-absorbed to even have sex with her but Marie is in love with Paul. The conflict resolution is what sets Romance apart. As the film unravels, you get see Marie's relationships with other men, what she thinks about sexual intercourse and pleasure. Breillat explores what romance is to a woman. She is graphic while she silently dissolves the presence of the camera as an entity in the film.
Initial reflections on the film bring forward the sex, which is not presented in an erotic manner. As I mull over the soliloquies by Marie, all the sex fades away and I’m left confused about the film, as confused as Marie is about her feelings for Paul. The protagonist lives alone mentally. Her method of taking decisions, answering through her body, her unwavering look, the slight gap between her teeth, it all feels natural. But then, when you look into Marie’s thoughts, one can see a brothel, which divides sex and love. Marie is being pragmatic by separating parts of the body. She separates the torso from the genitals throughout the film. But then, isn't that how we make sense about the world around us? We are forced to think logically and Marie does the same. By the end, differentiating between what Marie is imagining and what is real is difficult.
This semi autobiography about Marie, her encounters and explorations; it leaves me thinking more than I should be.