Breillat's Romance

I watched Catherine Breillat's Romance this morning. The only other Breillat film I have seen is Fat Girl, which I liked much better than Romance. The female protagonist in Romance was really pathetic. I'm assuming that was the point (I haven't watched the commentary yet), but I had great difficulty watching her waste away for some schmuck man and essentially fuck other guys just to get back at him for not screwing her. I believe Breillat would say she was owning her sexuality, but she seemed a complete mental slave to her boyfriend which resulted in taking out her frustration in sex she didn't really want. Her constant "I am nothing more than a gaping hole, I have to hate the men I fuck" was definitely not owning her sexuality, and I only felt pity on this person.

Plus many artistic aspects of the film were so painfully transparent, such as the wearing of all white until she starts the bondage bit and breaks out the bright red dress. I mean really, does Breillat think her audience is so dense that she needs to use some lame color scheme to signify a character development? Give me some credit!

Despite these problems, the film was ok. Slow in some points, but had some good monologue that left me thinking. Some of the sex scenes were good, others were atrocious. Those French and their sex scenes.