Sex is Comedy

Director Jeanne (played by Anne Nikita Parillaud) is about to shoot a difficult sex scene for her new film, ‘Scènes intimes’. The actors involved could drink each other’s blood and need a lot of convincing to play their sex scene. Jeanne also faces some personal complications – for instance she is involved with the leading man (Gregoire Colin). Using lots of tricks and manipulation, she tries to get the two where she wants them.
Sex is Comedy is a film about making a film, to be precise about shooting a sex scene. The scene looks like one from Fat Girl, Breillat’s previous film, but it is fictional; only the actress (Roxane Mesquida) is the same. Through Jeanne, Breillat tackles her favourite themes: sex and power, social manipulation and her love-hate relationship with actors. A film filled with serious reflection on herself, but she can also laugh at herself. The director of the film in the film is obviously Breillat herself. She does not fare too well, with her long monologues and tyrannical grumps and whims.
Breillat was given the idea for this film by the many ‘making of’ documentaries in recent years that pretend to show what really goes on behind the scenes – something that is almost impossible to shoot, according to Breillat.