Set in France, 'Love' is one of those arty films that features explicit sexual activity. Director Gaspar Noé reportedly said he wanted to create a film featuring a 'love story seen from a sexual point of view'; did he succeed?
The film opens with American student Murphy getting a handjob from French girl Electra while he in turn fingers her - um - front bottom. This all seems very nice, but flash forward a few years and we see Murphy living unhappily with a different Frenchwoman (Omi), the mother of his young child. How he got from pleasant afternoon handjobs to dissatisfied (though responsible) domesticity forms the narrative of the film.
There's a heavily improvised feel - and not just in the sex scenes: the more routine conversations are well played, but the frequent arguments/shouting matches are unfocused and boringly repetitive. Lead actors Karl Glusman, Aomi Muyock and Klara Kristin - the latter two apparently never having acted before being cast in this film - are competent (when they're not shouting). Muyock, especially, does a creditable job in showing Electra's rapid descent from wholesome student to attention-seeking slapper. The sex scenes are not the cold affairs some reviewers report them to be: true, they're not the height of eroticism, but they're enjoyable enough, with all three leads looking attractive sans clothes.
And although the film being shot in 3D didn't add anything for me, I have to admit it made for an unusual money shot...
The film opens with American student Murphy getting a handjob from French girl Electra while he in turn fingers her - um - front bottom. This all seems very nice, but flash forward a few years and we see Murphy living unhappily with a different Frenchwoman (Omi), the mother of his young child. How he got from pleasant afternoon handjobs to dissatisfied (though responsible) domesticity forms the narrative of the film.
There's a heavily improvised feel - and not just in the sex scenes: the more routine conversations are well played, but the frequent arguments/shouting matches are unfocused and boringly repetitive. Lead actors Karl Glusman, Aomi Muyock and Klara Kristin - the latter two apparently never having acted before being cast in this film - are competent (when they're not shouting). Muyock, especially, does a creditable job in showing Electra's rapid descent from wholesome student to attention-seeking slapper. The sex scenes are not the cold affairs some reviewers report them to be: true, they're not the height of eroticism, but they're enjoyable enough, with all three leads looking attractive sans clothes.
And although the film being shot in 3D didn't add anything for me, I have to admit it made for an unusual money shot...