Sex and Lucía (2002)

Too much of everything

Best movie of this year hands down!

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

I am a big movie buff and I have been using IMDb for years but have never written a review. After watching the movie, I am compelled to write my first review. I have never been so angry at a movie. I feel that the director/writer is tying too hard to give the movie some 'art.' It is so contrived upto the point that the viewer feels that he is neglected in constructing the storyline. Too many snobbish metaphors, ambiguities and subtleties leave the audience uncaptivated. As the story goes on, I feel more and more disengaged, thanks to its pretentious taste. My tipping point is the dog scene. First, the writer doesn't have to kill the child. Even if he has to, it doesn't have to be by a dog. If it has to be a dog (another distasteful metaphor, yes I get it), the scene doesn't have to be shot in such an overly unnecessarily confusing way. I know it is the movie makers' choice but I can't help feeling self-pity for myself for having to witness it.

Sex and Lucia is a Spanish drama film written and directed by Julio Médem, and starring Paz Vega and Tristán Ulloa. As suggested by the title, there is a great deal of passionate sexual content surrounding the love story of Lucía and Lorenzo as the plot dissolves into a very lyrical eroticism. The movie features a highly non-linear story line with repeated surreal references to the ocean and beach. Lucia (Vega) is a young Madrid waitress who is devastated to hear of the death of her old flame Lorenzo (Ulloa). Hoping to flee her troubles, she seeks out a beautiful island paradise her dead lover often talked about. There she meets and befriends Carlos and Elena, who are also refugees of personal tragedies. Unbeknownst to all of them, the three each have a connection to Lorenzo. Years previously, Elena had a spontaneous fling with Lorenzo on the same island on the beach. Nine months later, she bore his daughter, Luna, but unable to raise a child on her own, she enlisted the help of a nurse, Belen. In attempting to reconnect with the child he never knew, Lorenzo had a passionate affair with Belen, one which caused her to neglect Luna, with tragic results. As Lucia slowly learns these details, she recalls the book Lorenzo was writing just before his death, and soon the lines between fact and fiction begin to slip away.Not every movie that is billed as 'erotic' deserves that distinction, but Sex And Lucia certainly does. It's the kind of intelligent, thoughtful film about sex and love that Hollywood just can't make as it presents a bizarre, alternately joyful and gloomy take on sexual fantasies and complications.

One thing that can never be said about "Sex and Lucia" is that it's not interesting. It has a unique look and feel, more than almost any Spanish film I've seen, and also some very memorable and enticing scenes. The first thirty minutes work quite well as a slightly surreal relationship-based drama. The more it goes on, though, the more the plot twists and turns, and as much as I wanted to believe that it was all leading up to something, or that there was a substantial layer of subtext, I found myself not caring too much, and I got a strong feeling that Medem was deliberately making it more obscure and incoherent than it has to be for the sake of creating an artistic visage to cover for the fact that he didn't really have anything much to say.Some films bend and break genre conventions to create truly fascinating art; some films decide to ignore plot and coherency in favor of atmosphere and symbolism. "Sex and Lucia", unfortunately, doesn't do any of that. It does have quite intense atmosphere, and probably some layers of symbolism I couldn't be bothered to look for, but it just failed to capture me in any meaningful way. I was impressed with all the elements - gorgeous shots, good dialog and excellent acting - but it doesn't come together to create a real film, and it's too long and too heavy-handed to be enjoyed merely as a collection of individual scenes. Worst of all, it's not even about Lucia, nor is it about sex. It's about unlikable Lorenzo and figuring out what on earth Lucia sees in him. That's almost as big a mystery as what the film is actually about.

For a north American who usually watches N.A. candy like movies, which are usually visually pleasing but hollow in the script, this one is a very nice surprise.I'll give a 10/10 for the movie - script, director's performance, cinematic effects, castings (kudos to Elena Anya - she should shoot more serious movies like this one than Hollywood movies like Van Helsing), editing. The sex scenes are explicit but necessary to tell the story honestly, so it's sex scenes in good tastes. p.s. Vicky Cristina Barcelona seemed to be a N.A. version of this one but like suggested earlier before, this movie got more complexity, originality & layers - thus more enjoyable.