Une liaison pornographique

Elegant, wonderfully written and excellently acted second film by Fréderic Fonteyne (whose first film Max et Bobo was screened last year in Rotterdam) that stands out with its honesty, warmth and the intelligence with which he portrays a relationship between adult lovers. Skillfully assisted by Nathalie Baye and Sergi Lopez, Fonteyne has made an opulent film filled with wisdom and humour. Using interviews, shot in a fake-documentary style, we find out more about the history of a relationship between two people who wanted to sculpt an anonymous ‘pornographic liaison’. The different stages of their relationship are worked out one by one: the first nervous meeting when fantasy becomes reality, the second encounter that leads to the anticipated sex and further developments. Fonteyne leaves the pornographic elements to our imagination: once love is being made, the camera hangs around in the corridor. Fonteyne has concentrated on emotion, reflection and analysis. In a gracious way the maker identifies with the dilemma of two lovers who are at first only interested in the physical aspects, but who soon discover the hidden emotional powers of sex.