I have always had an aversion to foreign films. It’s not because I don’t consider myself cosmopolitan enough, nor cultured enough to follow the often intricate plotlines in a foreign tongue, it’s because I tend to miss most of what’s taking place on-screen trying to keep up with the sub-titles. So I have shunned them, preferring instead the increasingly vapid fair coming from Hollywood. But no more. Recently in an effort to broaden my horizons and shun entertainment steeped in senseless violence and sloppy predicable plotlines, I have turned to Independent and foreign films where inspired well written human drama’s, are the norm.

The French Spanish collaboration Sex and Lucia came to my attention via word of mouth and I’m glad it did. The movie is at once funny, shocking, sexy, sad, erotic, dramatic, alluring, and engaging. But never was it predictable. The characters are beautiful and sexy, and at times repulsing, but I found myself caring what happened them none-the-less. I was drawn in; I was caught up by the beautiful Paz Vega (Lucia), titillated by the exotic Elena Anaya (Belen), and memorized by the sad beauty of Najwa Nimri (Elana).

Sex and Lucia is a romantic-drama that is unabashed in its exploration of explicit sexuality and eroticism between men and women in a natural and non-exploitative, mature manner. Films like Sex and Lucia are for mature adults, ones that yearn for the realism that is missing in American offerings and that portray sex and relationships in a realistic & fun fashion. There is full unapologetic frontal nudity from both sexes, but it is beautiful to behold, natural, but arousing. It unfolds as part of the movie, it belongs, and it not thrown in just to have a nude scene.

Plot-Line:

Sex and Lucia—written and directed by Julio Medem—takes place against the old world charm of Spain. Lucia, a waitress at a local restaurant, falls hopelessly in love (obsession) with a fairly successful novelist named Lorenzo (Tristan Ulloa) after reading his latest book. Lorenzo has unknowingly fathered a daughter, Luna (Silvia Llanos) during a moonlit swim/tryst with a total stranger, Elena (Najwa Nimri) some time before he actually meets Lucia. Luna is cared for Belen (Elena Anaya)—for reasons we are never made fully aware of—and her mother, an ex-porn actress (Diana Suarez), who both live with Carlos a.k.a. Antonio (Daniel Freire).

Lucia eventually leaves Lerenzo—and travels to an island where she meets Elana and Carlos—after he becomes obsessed with Belen after finding his daughter in her care. The situation becomes even more complicated after Luna is mauled to death by a dog owned by Belen during a tryst between Larenzo and Belen. All of the pieces of this puzzle do not come together into a coherent picture until halfway through the film, because the film phased between the here and now and the what was almost seamlessly leaving me enthralled, teasing me, cajoling to uncover the central theme if I could.

More of the plot I shall not divulge, but I will state that the movie is worth viewing more then once to get the full measure of it. This is because there plot twist and turns that are at time hard to follow, especially during the second half of the film. The line between fact and fiction becomes increasingly blurred during the film's 2nd half, and the dialog comes in torrents that make the sub-titles increasingly burdensome to follow. But the burden is well worth the effort, because Sex and Lucia is intelligence written, aptly directed, and superbly acted.

Sex is the central focus of this film, and as I stated earlier it is explicit in nature, and extremely erotic in form. Those in the conservative camp need not apply. While there are not any shots of actually penetration, Sex and Lucia does offer some very explicit shots of actual erections that Americans are certainly not used to outside of XXX fair, oh and of course the newly released to DVD, In The Cut with Meg Ryan.

There is also a scene in which Belen—the teasingly erotic Elena Anaya—is pleasuring herself in a room lit only by the undulating scenes of an actual pornographic movie in which her mother is starring. The scene is extremely erotic and explicit but totally in keeping with the theme of the movie, but again it might prove too intense for some. But the nudity and sexual banter is also fun and lighthearted as in the scene between Lucia and Lorenzo when first she strips naked for his, and then he for her as the two new lovers laugh and clown to music, and then make love.

The performance of all of the actors/actress is superb and dare I say brave in a way few of Hollywood’s most famous seldom are, with their body doubles and stupid nudity clauses. There are a few exceptions most notably Naomi Watts in Mulholland Drive (2001) and 28 Grams (2003), Laura Linney in Maze (2000), and Michael Douglas in Basic Instinct (1992). It would be refreshing to see more of what Sex and Lucia portrayed so bravely and openly, yet so naturally find its way into American films.

The DVD of Sex and Luciahas been released in two versions: one (128 minutes) which is uncut and uncensored is rated NR; and a censored R-rated (126 minute) version. I have not viewed the R rated version, but I understand that some scenes were electronically altered to blur out those offending body parts some may find loathsome. If you are going to watch Sex and Lucia, do yourself a favor and view the unrated version where nothing is lost in the translation.

The only drawback to this movie is the need to constantly read the sub-titles at the bottom of the screen which I mentioned earlier is one of the chief reasons I tend to shy away from foreign film offerings. But those who speak Spanish will not have to bother, and I now wish I paid closer attention in high school Spanish class. Sub-titles notwithstanding, I thoroughly enjoyed Sex and Lucia and I highly recommend it; prude or not.


Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Good Date Movie
Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age