Sex & Lucia - mini-review

[Dominic]

Sex & Lucia, Julio Medam, 2001



A few of us apparently would like to discuss this film...feel free to watch it and chime in!

I'm a big fan of director Medam's glorious, fate-driven, sometimes nonsensical work, and Sex & Lucia is probably his best film. Another one of his that's worth seeking out is Lovers of the Arctic Circle

It's about writer Lorenzo and his lover/muse, Lucia, and the coincidences, meetings, tragedies and magic that happens to them while Lorenzo is writing his new novel.

Sometimes we're seeing the lovers' life and sometimes we're seeing characters in Lorenzo's book, and sometimes we're seeing a melding of the two. Medam never really makes it clear who's who, either! His themes are always about fate, fate and more fate.

Even though the story is sometimes hard to follow, the emotion this film inspires never is. It's a truly lovely piece of film making - at times romantic, funny, tragic and poignant.

Naturally, a lot of the press this movie has gotten is on the nudity and sex scenes it contains; but while they are nothing less than enjoyable and beautiful to look at, those scenes are also integral to the story and characters and seem perfectly natural in that "European" way.

Medam's story-telling is at once accessible and confusing, as he likes to tell multiple tales at the same time as well as mixing fantasty and multiple viewpoints into the mix.

Sex & Lucia is a wonder to behold, shot on gorgeous high-definition video. The blown-out look of the island scenes are especially beautiful.


******SPOILERS******

I think what one has to remember when discussing this film is Lorenzo's story to his daughter - about how in the middle it falls through a hole and begins again. This is key to understanding the film, I think, because that's exactly what happens!

I've seen this movie at least 5 times now and I'm still not sure if what happens with the daughter and the dog is real, if it's only part of Lorenzo's story, if it's real and a normal tragedy that Lorenzo really has no part of, or if it's real and Lorenzo has put himself in the story fictionally, but not really!

I don't know about you guys, but that's what I love about this film - the questions it leaves unanswered.

Plus, I absolutely adore the character of Elena, retreating to her island house and being her healer to her guests while she tries to heal herself.

Anyway, what does everyone else think of this magical little movie?