Romance

Director Catherine Breillat joins us to introduce her provocative erotic thriller Romance. In Romance, a school teacher frustrated by her boyfriend’s lack of sexual attention begins to look outside her relationship for satisfaction. As her degree of sexual adventurousness increases with each new encounter, so too does the level of peril. Though banned in several countries for its frank depiction of sex, the film was a breakthrough for Breillat as a formal stylist with a deeply philosophical bent. As a New York Times reviewer wrote at the time, “when the film comes up with startling visual metaphors for the mind-body dilemma….Romance is as eloquent as it wants to be.” (95 mins., 35mm)

Special thanks to Unifrance for their generous support of this retrospective.