Backdrop fallback

Romance

Romance

Share

Romance

"Love is desolate. Romance is temporary. Sex is forever."

1999

1h 39m

5.5(315 votes)

Drama

Romance

Overview

Frustrated by the lack of intimacy in her relationship, a young schoolteacher goes through a series of intimidating and often violent sexual partners.

Links & Resources

Social & External

Production Companies

ARTE France Cinéma

The people behind it

Cast & crew

10 featured cast members

Starring

Caroline Ducey

Caroline Ducey

Marie

Sagamore Stévenin

Sagamore Stévenin

Paul

François Berléand

François Berléand

Robert

Rocco Siffredi

Rocco Siffredi

Paolo

Reza Habouhossein

Man on stairs

Ashley Wanninger

Ashley Wanninger

Ashley

Emma Colberti

Emma Colberti

Charlotte

Fabien de Jomaron

Claude

Carla

Model

Pierre Maufront

Photographer

Creative team

Directed by: Catherine Breillat
Written by: Catherine Breillat
Produced by: Jean-François Lepetit

Similar Movies

In Search of the Equator

In Search of the Equator

A film about two young women, trying to decide how to go on with their lives and loves: Marie just dumped her boyfriend, who's married and can see her just secretly twice a week. At this point Pipa invites her to join her on a visit at her home at the coast of Portugal. Only when they are arrived there, Marie learns that Pipa has come to marry Manuel, and that she too is unsure if she'll be happy with her decision.

Whale Rider

Whale Rider

A contemporary story of love, rejection, and triumph as a young Māori girl fights to fulfill a destiny her grandfather refuses to recognize.

Love's Baby Soft

Love's Baby Soft

The 12-year old Dolores, a feisty preteen desperate to be seen as a grown-up in 1976 suburbia is on her humiliating, hilarious journey from girlhood to growing up. She fantasizes about sex, womanhood, work... and Freddie Prinze. The girl thinks she's got the lowdown on being a woman, but when her overworked single mom Janice hires Cleo to babysit her world collides with the super cool black 16-year old's, each learns painful truths about what it really means to grow up.

Junebug

Junebug

On the way to meet with an independent artist in the South, newlywed art dealer Madeleine is convinced by her husband, George, that they should stop to meet his family in North Carolina. Madeleine's affluent lifestyle clashes with the family, but she befriends George's wide-eyed and pregnant sister-in-law, Ashley, who is nearing her due date. Through the family, Madeleine gains greater insight into George's character.

When Saturday Comes

When Saturday Comes

Jimmy Muir comes from a typical gritty, northern town where there are only two options: working down the pit or in a factory. But Jimmy has other ideas — he dreams of becoming a professional footballer. Confronted by a bitter and unsupportive father, hard-drinking friends and a lifetime of bad habits...has Jimmy the will to achieve his ultimate goal?

The Holiday

The Holiday

Two women, one American and one British, swap homes at Christmastime following bad breakups. Each woman finds romance with a local man but realizes that the imminent return home may end the relationship.

Copying Beethoven

Copying Beethoven

Serving as Ludwig van Beethoven's copyist gives a conservatory student access to the composer's musical genius, but also exposes her to his cruelty.

The Beachcomber

The Beachcomber

Mr. Gray is the new Resident in Charge of the Welcome Islands in the Indian Ocean. The Islands are full of life, but the only other Europeans are the "sanctimonious, psalm-singing" brother-sister missionary team of Martha and Owen Jordans, and the Honourable Ted - a hard-drinking, womanizing social outcast whose English family pays him to stay away. Martha and Ted become an unlikely team when cholera threatens the islands and they must do their best to stop its spread.

My Summer in Provence

My Summer in Provence

In the wake of their parent's separation, three siblings spend the summer in the south of France with their estranged Grandfather. In less than 24 hours, a clash of generations has occurred between the teenagers and the old man. During this turbulent summer, both generations will be transformed by one another.

Planet of the Apes

Planet of the Apes

Astronaut Taylor crash lands on a distant planet ruled by apes who use a primitive race of humans for experimentation and sport. Soon Taylor finds himself among the hunted, his life in the hands of a benevolent chimpanzee scientist.

Antonia's Line

Antonia's Line

After World War II, Antonia and her daughter, Danielle, go back to their Dutch hometown, where Antonia's late mother has bestowed a small farm upon her. There, Antonia settles down and joins a tightly-knit but unusual community. Those around her include quirky friend Crooked Finger, would-be suitor Bas and, eventually for Antonia, a granddaughter and great-granddaughter who help create a strong family of empowered women.

Crash

Crash

A car crash victim inexplicably finds himself aroused by car accidents and becomes involved with an underground subculture of like-minded souls.

Love Only Me

Love Only Me

A comedy of errors, whose main characters are a revue star Lidia Relska and the secretary of an oil tycoon Stefan. While in Cracow, the girl passes herself off as another person, which leads to many amusing misunderstandings, and this is only the beginning of the confusion.

A Quiet Place

A Quiet Place

A family is forced to live in silence while hiding from creatures that hunt by sound.

Frida

Frida

A biography of artist Frida Kahlo, who channeled the pain of a crippling injury and her tempestuous marriage into her work.

The Discovery of Heaven

The Discovery of Heaven

Disappointed with humanity, God wants to revoke his contract with humanity and wants to take back the stone tablets containing the ten commandments. To this end an angel is sent out to affect the personal lives of three humans so an appropriate child may be conceived.

Felicitas

Felicitas

Buenos Aires at the outskirts of XIX century. A society rigid in patriarchal rules. A war between brothers of Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay. Two young and very much in love youngsters, fight for their right to be together. Obeyance and fear sets them apart along more than ten years. When they are finally reunited, will they be able to overcome the pain and tragedy that haunts them?

Me and You and Everyone We Know

Me and You and Everyone We Know

Single dad Richard meets Christine, a starving artist who moonlights as a cabbie. They awkwardly attempt to start a romance, but Richard’s divorce has left him emotionally damaged. Meanwhile, Richard’s sons—one a teenager, the other 6-years-old—take part in clumsy experiments with the opposite sex.

The Cave of the Yellow Dog

The Cave of the Yellow Dog

The little nomad girl, Nansal, finds a baby dog in the Mongolian veld, who becomes her best friend - against all rejections of her parents. A story about a Mongolian family of nomads - their traditional way of life and the rising call of the City.

The Five Devils

The Five Devils

8-year-old Vicky has a mysterious gift: she can recreate any scent she comes across, even that of her beloved mother Joanne. When her estranged aunt Julia suddenly returns to town, the invocation of her fragrance plunges the young girl back in time to unravel a past replete with family secrets.

Recommended Movies

Nymphomaniac: Vol. II

Nymphomaniac: Vol. II

The continuation of Joe's sexually dictated life delves into the darker aspects of her adult life and what led to her being in Seligman's care.

Below Her Mouth

Below Her Mouth

An unexpected affair quickly escalates into a heart-stopping reality for two women whose passionate connection changes their lives forever.

Fifty Shades Freed

Fifty Shades Freed

Believing they have left behind shadowy figures from their past, newlyweds Christian and Ana fully embrace an inextricable connection and shared life of luxury. But just as she steps into her role as Mrs. Grey and he relaxes into an unfamiliar stability, new threats could jeopardize their happy ending before it even begins.

The Duke of Burgundy

The Duke of Burgundy

Day in and day out, lovers Cynthia and Evelyn enact an elaborate sadomasochistic fantasy as mistress and maid. But as their ritual of domination and submission begins to turn stale, Cynthia yearns for something more conventional, while Evelyn tries to push their taboos even further.

Unfaithful

Unfaithful

A New York suburban couple's marriage goes dangerously awry when the wife indulges in an adulterous fling.

My King

My King

Tony is admitted to a rehabilitation center after a serious ski accident. Dependent on the medical staff and pain relievers, she takes time to look back on a turbulent relationship that she experienced with Georgio.

Fifty Shades of Grey

Fifty Shades of Grey

When college senior Anastasia Steele steps in for her sick roommate to interview prominent businessman Christian Grey for their campus paper, little does she realize the path her life will take. Christian, as enigmatic as he is rich and powerful, finds himself strangely drawn to Ana, and she to him. Though sexually inexperienced, Ana plunges headlong into an affair -- and learns that Christian's true sexual proclivities push the boundaries of pain and pleasure.

No Limit

No Limit

Roxana Aubrey decides to drop her studies and escape her life in Paris for a free diving course in the south of France. She is quickly pulled into a life that reaches new depths brought by the weight of an ocean's descent.

Double Lover

Double Lover

Chloé, a fragile young woman, falls in love with her psychoanalyst, Paul. A few months later she moves in with him, but soon discovers that her lover is concealing a part of his identity.

Addicted

Addicted

A gallerist risks her family and flourishing career when she enters into an affair with a talented painter and slowly loses control of her life.

The Married Woman

The Married Woman

A superficial woman finds conflict choosing between her abusive husband and her vain lover.

Crash

Crash

A car crash victim inexplicably finds himself aroused by car accidents and becomes involved with an underground subculture of like-minded souls.

Emmanuelle

Emmanuelle

An employee at the French Embassy in Bangkok invites his wife to join him – and enjoy the benefits of their open marriage.

The Piano Teacher

The Piano Teacher

Erika Kohut, a sexually repressed piano teacher living with her domineering mother, meets a young man who starts romantically pursuing her.

Newness

Newness

In contemporary Los Angeles, two millennials navigating a social media–driven hookup culture begin a relationship that pushes both emotional and physical boundaries.

Monday

Monday

A spark on a Friday can lead to a sizzling weekend fling, but what happens when you get to the inevitable Monday?

Love

Love

Murphy is an American living in Paris who enters a highly sexually and emotionally charged relationship with the unstable Electra. Unaware of the seismic effect it will have on their relationship, they invite their pretty neighbor into their bed.

The Man from Elysian Fields

The Man from Elysian Fields

A failed novelist's inability to pay the bills strains relations with his wife and leads him to work at an escort service, where he becomes entwined with a wealthy woman whose husband is a successful writer.

Desire

Desire

In a social context deteriorated by a countrywide economic crisis, the life of several people will be turned upside down after they meet Cécile, a character who symbolizes desire.

Time Is Up

Time Is Up

Vivien, an accomplished student with a passion for physics, and Roy, a troubled young man, are involved in an accident that forces them to reclaim their lives one minute at the time.