Word: ducey
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Director of the Bureau of Study Counsel Charles Ducey agrees that credit card debt is not a major problem at Harvard...
...Despite the rampant nudity, this is no horny-male flick. Breillat focuses on the frustrations of Marie (Caroline Ducey). Romance is the story of her search for both sexual and emotional satisfaction. Marie looks like a sweet young thing, but that's where it ends. Marie wades through three lovers. First is Paul (Sagamore Stevenin), her male model boyfriend, who is annoyed by Marie's pleas for more sex and wishes she would just go to sleep instead of trying to take off his shorts. After one fruitless night, the sex-starved Marie sneaks off to a bar and picks...
...Paul rebuffs her advances. Later, she observes, "Women are the victims men need for atonement" and "Love is dumb--it's just a power trip." Perhaps Breillat wanted to instill some intellectual momentum by exposing us to Marie's inner musings. The voiceovers awkwardly drive the slow, slow scenes. Ducey's throaty voice (amplified by French gutturals) can be irritating as she incessantly harps about her appetite for sensual stimulation. Sometimes she should just shut up and let the rest of us absorb the atmosphere...
...Otherwise, Ducey is excellent in looking disconnected and dispirited for the entire duration of the film, as if she's trying to rise from the dead. And she still seems like a zombie at the end, despite giving birth to a new life. She has divorced her personality from her body, and it shows in her vacant gazes...
Romance might work if it had an electrifying central performance or some volcanic camera passion. It has neither. Ducey shows nerve and a lot of flesh but zero screen sorcery. As for the naughty bits, there is plenty of flesh but no joy. It's mostly an ordeal--for actress and audience. If the French want to illuminate the world in matters of sex, they'll have to try harder...