Pay no attention to his cover. Open this movie and watch it. Usually, adult films are rooted in surfing (bragging - who is cooler, who is richer), as in a circus movie, with Rebekah Romijn Stamos - a beautiful film like this since the age of 16, but after 30 years it is scary to watch, too expensive, and the actors seem untouchable puppets of the producer. And in this movie, there's an abyss of talent to make movies that are about real people, because we don't live in a show, we're behind the curtain. And this curtain opens, and this is the picture. Yeah, it's a shame the dog ate the mistress' daughter. It is a shame that the owner of the house where Lucia settled is cheating her husband. It is a shame that you can not dive in such clear water with scuba in the landscape where they live. It is a shame that women rarely drive. When an actress as beautiful as Rebekah Romijn Stamos, but only a village actress, drives her village car, it seems that you are a hundred years ahead in the future. So far, it's only a theory. But the black widower husband, or the impotent husband, is our practice. Wherever Lucia went on her fancy motorcycle, she got everywhere herself. . .
Kaleidoscope metaphors, healthy sexuality and male initiation in one masterpiece
This is a film about the Subconscious and Sensations, a metaphor film and a kaleidoscope film. But nevertheless, let’s try to understand what we can find useful for ourselves from here.
Why is it a movie about the unconscious? Pay attention to the first shots of the film – underwater shooting with swinging vegetation. Water itself is a symbol of the senses and a metaphor for the unconscious. And we are immediately immersed in the swaying world of sensations and turned off the intellect. Here you can only swim and feel – the first message of this film.
Moreover, the water/ocean/underwater world is Freud’s Eid world. And the most direct expression of id in a person is sex and sexuality. And this shows the genius of Julio Medem, because he managed to show this part of the human personality as something very natural, self-evident: without vulgarity, without pathos, without shock, without shame and shame. His message here is that sex is just there, and it can and should be. There is an erect male penis, there is a powerful female orgasm, there is beauty and simplicity of the naked body. And all this is so natural and beautiful, as if the world for a while forgot that it is “oh”, it is low, it is shameful, it is not talked about and “it” is not shown. A return to a lost paradise. Where only the waters of the mother’s womb, soft swaying and the feeling of “I am, and with me as I am, everything is fine.” With every cell in my body, with every natural manifestation of me, everything is fine. I'm just swimming in the ocean of sensuality and sexuality. Feeling and calming down or having fun and that’s normal. And it's a good, healthy, powerful message about embracing your id and your sexuality, your physicality, your naturalness, your vitality. But it's in the background. And at the forefront Medem put the story of the main characters: Lucia and Lorenzo.
The big question for me is who is the main character. On the one hand, the narrative comes from Lucia’s perspective, and much more from her eyes. On the other hand, everything that is shown in the film is the fruit of Lorenzo’s sick imagination and his moral and ethical throwing. And this dichotomism balances the whole film.
Lucia is a very healthy character. She does what she wants, she goes after the man she likes, she just tells him that she has fallen in love with him and wants to live with him, she orgasms every time, she loves herself and is very honest. She leaves on time and stops on time. Masterfully holds boundaries and goes after their interests, needs and goals, without looking back on the opinions of others. Calls things by their names and makes clear and appropriate decisions. For me, this is the perfect example of combining sensuality, sexuality vs self-sufficiency, maturity, healthy intelligence and strength.
The exact opposite is Lorenzo. A man entangled in himself, as in the labyrinths of a rabbit hole, leading him into the turbidity of his sick subconscious. If Lucia is a creator, she gives, then Lorenzo is a typical consumer. In fact, like Lorenzo, the Creator is a writer who creates creations. But notice that he didn’t start all three of his novels in the film. Women reached out to him, confessed their love, seduced him, and he consumed; and when he got bored, he went on. All of his creations are the consumed and recycled stories of these women. Some kind of inverted yin-yang turns out.
Almost all the main characters of this film are about reality. Lorenzo is entirely a figment of his own imagination: there you will not understand where the dream is, where the top is the bottom, where the black is the white. This is clearly a search for self. And then it turns out that this is a film about the birth of this person, this character – Lorenzo. And he gives birth to three women and one man (his friend).
As a result, in this film we see three types of sexuality and sex: the first - "innocent", veiled with a stranger, in the Shadow and the subconscious; the second - real live strong and powerful sex with Lucia; and the third - failed perverse sex with the teenage daughter of a porn star. Beautiful, because the first and third options are the two main ways to escape from healthy sex - infantile or perverted.
Thus, we see a beautiful story of the birth of healthy male sexuality, which crossed the verge of both deviations.
Interesting in the film image of the Lighthouse. The lighthouse itself is a symbol of reference, hope, and exit. Lucia comes to him first, once on the island. There she meets Carlos - a man with a huge penis, emerged from the depths of the sea. There is also a maze hole in the subconscious. There, Lucia refuses to dive into the underwater world, saying that she prefers air, read consciousness to the subconscious. Lorenzo himself, communicating with Helen by correspondence, seems to her to be the caretaker of the same Lighthouse. There is a lot of this symbol in the film, and it seems to give us hope that everything will be resolved . And our characters will find their way to the surface of consciousness, after long wanderings in their unconscious.
Surprisingly, when she arrives on the island, Lucia chooses an upstairs room in Helen’s house. The house itself is a symbol of Consciousness, Ego, Persons. The upper rooms symbolize the Alter-Ego. This is another symbol of the fact that Lucia is a personal beacon of Lorenzo, who is not going to plunge into the "minds of the subconscious" and just waiting for him here upstairs. Remember Carlos’ phrase that it is right for a beautiful woman to wait on the surface while the crab crawls on the back of the ugly and dark side. By the way, the symbol of the crab in Jungian analysis means the following: rebirth (crustaceans renew their shell), as well as an ambivalent symbol of loss.
I admired the story of Helen and the birth/rebirth of her sensuality, which she rejected after meeting Lorenzo. How long has she tried to deny her feelings and her memories, and how great it is that it came to her that this is a dead end ) It is very important to remember that being alive, even if it hurts is still better than “holding on” and being a robot.
The symbol of the Island is also a symbol of refuge and security. A place of recovery and security. This is where Lorenzo’s story begins, and this is where all the heroes come to the climax. Island, lighthouse, moon, hole, birth, rebirth ...
While I was writing, I realized it was actually a kaleidoscope. "" There are an infinite number of symbols and meanings here, and every new moment, depending on what angle you look at it, you will see something new. This is the beauty of art-house cinema and the genius of Julio Medema.
What do you see now?
Movies of erotic themes always arouse keen interest among healthy and active part of the population. Quality films of this direction are generally in demand, but they can be counted on the fingers. Admittedly, I did not watch films directed by Julio Medem, although I have repeatedly read positive reviews about him as a master of non-standard productions. Indeed, “Lucia and Sex” is a very unusual movie, in the plot of which everything is intertwined. Here sensual eroticism and melodrama, fantasies and certain illusions, which until the end of the narrative put before the viewer all new questions.
Actually, the sexual component of the film causes only positive emotions. Erotic filmed and played, to my taste, very beautiful. Beautiful actresses, uninhibited doubles, appropriate entourage, music. Great scenery. It seemed, look, enjoy and relax. But no, the author needed to add to the picture “intellectuality” in the form of moral throwing of heroes. In itself, this is not a bad thing, the plot and characters should become “more voluminous”. But not everyone succeeds in implementing such tasks. In my opinion, the author did not succeed. I will try to explain why.
The whole action of the picture revolves around the intimate relationship of the hero and several heroines. To the present, the past is constantly mixed, in which the complexes and sins of the writer are stuck. The viewer is constantly immersed in certain events that are either fantasies of lovers who compose the next plot twist of the novel, "to add a twist." Are these echoes of the former “novels” of the writer, from one of whom the daughter Luna was born, with whom he meets many years later, tormented by remorse. Which, however, does not prevent her from being seduced by her sexy nanny. At the same time, the characters look flat and caricatured, all the relationships and problems between them revolve exclusively around sex. For a purely erotic film, this is normal, but if the author tries to diversify the plot with additional ideas, the question arises of the balance of these ideas. In this film, in my opinion, this balance is not, it all comes down to intimacy. The second half of the film is overloaded with different storylines, but the drama, as announced, does not work. The head understands that on the screen there is a tragedy, a girl dies, veins are cut, and the characters kind of worry about this. But somehow unconvincingly, all too easily new hobbies and connections are formed, which then give rise to new experiences. What ideas is the author trying to reveal? That sex can produce a baby? And from fleeting sex can be born an orphan child? What other evidence have we been shown? For drama it is banal, for light feature film, perhaps superfluous.
In the end, it is not clear whether the girl Luna was eaten by the dog. Maybe it wasn't the girl! It doesn't really matter, fantasy, fantasy. But again, the film lacks the scope, the fuller disclosure of these fantasies and characters. He remains a beautiful, bright picture in the “churman’s chamber Medem”. Behind this picture there is no door to the “magic country”, there is nothing at all. Sorry. I can't give you a positive assessment.
The winner of the prize for the best youth film “Red Squirrel” director Julio Medem, as for me, is lucky, because in his film “Lucia and Sex” three beautiful, very beautiful actresses starred: Paz Vega, Naiva Nimri and Elena Anaya, and the first and last were not afraid to play naked, so he is twice lucky: who would not want to see such graceful bodies firsthand.
But don’t think, based on the title and the fact that there are scenes with nude actresses, that the picture is erotic. There are not so many scenes when children need to close their eyes, besides they are shot in a very beautiful, elegant style, they have nothing to do with pornography, they are really elegant scenes shot in beautiful angles with beautiful colors, as if the camera itself in the hands of the film operator Kiko De La Rica makes love to people who are passionate. Julio Medem in these scenes tried to be not a film director, but rather an artist writing his canvas, where he admires the beauty of the body, rather than trying to be a pornographer.
But, moving away from the scenes associated with sex, it must be said that the film “Lucia and Sex” is a story of drama, a personal drama of women. There will be no dizzying and extraordinary turns, which are inherent in the tapes of Pedro Almodóvar, but the drama in them at least add. Lucia is played by Paz Vega, she is madly in love with a writer named Lorenzo (Tristan Ulloa), a suave, independent, sparkling man, but he disappears, Lucia decides that he died and flees Madrid, where she lived with Lorenzo, to a secluded island with stunning nature. Lucia begins to recall all the fragments of their life together, looking for an answer to the question of what her lover really was.
Medem gradually, portions tell this love story, not forgetting to move away from Lucia’s memories to her present, so that the viewer could fully feel her bitterness, but most importantly, so that you can understand what she is, this Lucia, and she will be a woman worth idolizing, she is Lorenzo’s muse. Paz Vega meekly reveals the secrets of his heroine, she does not try to play so that the viewer thinks that she is a martyr, Vega helps people understand how to live, knowing the loss. Less on the screen will be the heroines of Elena Anaya, but in the course of the plot you can realize her closed world, in which she lives with a small child, and what she will be connected with Lorenzo. Here their relationship is unexpected, but vital, many know that it happens with a girl who remains to raise a child.
Quiet, but kind towards women, there is nothing callous in them, there is only a tragedy of fate, which makes the heroines quite similar to real people who wander among us, but we do not notice them, carried away by their problems and urgent affairs. Although many would hardly forget the beauty of the actresses, if you met them on the street. We should not forget about the heroine of Naiva Nimri, who became a link in life on the Mediterranean island. She has more aggression, toughness in behavior and words than the women who live next to her, but this is more because she suffers from loneliness and unrequited love for the local handsome. By the way, Naiva Nimri and Tristan Ulloa played together in the film Alejandro Amenabar “Open your eyes”, which then got a Hollywood remake called “Vanilla Sky”.
A very touching, visually beautiful film with beautiful women, telling an amazing love story with an amazing and vivid ending. A great movie of high European level, which makes Lucia and Sex even more significant.
In my opinion, the main character of the film is not Lucia, whose name the film is named, but her boyfriend Lorenzo. Around him twist three love stories intertwined with each other. And the main intrigue of the film is the novel that Lorenzo writes. Lucia advises him to add a “highlight” to the novel, and to add it, he breaks into someone else’s personal life.
A writer is not an easy profession. The writer is God in his own way; the God of the world he creates in the book. And it shows how his personal creative crisis bursts out into the world of people, and real tragedies begin.
The film is erotic. But this is not banal eroticism, and especially not pornography. Eroticism gives colorfulness and vitality to this mystical tape. And its center is the intricacies of fate and the philosophical understanding of death (a hole on an island in which you can fall). No blood is shown on the screen. This film is only about the beautiful and sublime. (What is lacking in Hollywood, in fact, where dummy guts constantly appear in the frame). What’s wrong with having a beautiful naked body? Our mentality thinks it's pornography. But death, intestines, a lot of murders, a mass shooting is “normal.” Americans, and ours, too, have forgotten how to see and show Life... instead, we see the cult of death. This is truly tragic.
The picture was shot in Spain. In a land of love and passion where people are ruled by emotions. That's what America lacks. In Russia, things are a little better with emotions. For passion, for beauty, the film deserves the highest praise.
The plot is flawless. The outcome exceeded all expectations.
The actors played well. Amazing, shocking, philosophical film. And very beautifully shot, wonderful landscapes, beautiful bodies. Fascinating, inspiring. Awesome movie!
Lucia, a waitress from a restaurant in downtown Madrid, is very determined. Falling in love with the writer Lorenzo, she tracks him down in a cafe, which is the opposite, and confesses her feelings. A young writer, who did not expect such a violent manifestation of emotions, cannot deny himself the pleasure of being desired and reciprocates the girl.
Their whirlwind romance lasts for several years, until one day a tragedy breaks the love harmony and breaks Lucia’s heart. After Lorenzo suddenly disappears, Lucia travels to a quiet island in the Mediterranean. There, among the virgin nature, she tries to learn the secret of her lover and something about the darkest corners of their common past.
The cult Spanish director Julio Medem already in his first film “Cows” (1992) developed an independent author’s style, close in spirit to Latin American magical realism. He has established himself as the creator of exquisite and passionate melodramas, equally similar to intellectual puzzles, which should be solved not by the mind, but by feeling. And even better not to decipher at all, just plunge into the elements of his paintings, as in water.
In his fifth film, Medem continues to reflect on the spiritual and physiological nature of attraction. Already in the prologue, he introduces a kind of coding in the spirit of Cortazar: the girl Helena is given to Lorenzo on the beach under the moon, and as a result of this fall, nine months later, a girl Luna is born secretly from a man. Then begins the main story: the novel of Lorenzo and Lucia, who became his new muse.
Gradually complicating the narrative with the introduction of new characters (in the film there are a friend of the writer, part-time his agent who finds the moon, a young nanny of the moon, also inflamed with passion for Lorenzo, then the mother of the moon...) Medem takes the story to the point where little remains, and it begins to resemble a Mexican-Brazilian series. Moreover, there are the relevant ingredients: a tragic death, a car accident, a stay in a coma and the final reunion of the characters on the very island where everything once began.
However, excessive melodramatization is hindered by a very whimsical construction of the film: the plot wanders at once in several times. It is transferred to the distant past, then only a few days ago, in addition, the characters communicate all the time via the Internet, complicating the already deliberately disconnected event series. In addition, this already oversaturated solution crowns the open finale, which can be interpreted as desired, loading with the most incredible meaning.
But from the general range of Lucia Y El Sexo distinguishes, among other things, an abundance of frank erotic scenes, similar to the animated pictures of the Kama Sutra. On the screen, even a couple of times a well-erect member is shown in close-up, which is quite correlated with the modern trend of authorial cinema, where it is not considered shameful to exploit elements of porn.
In addition to phallic attributes, Freudian symbolism is also used (there is a deep hole on the island next to the lighthouse...), which, together with the whimsical camera game of color and light, surely means something important, at least for the director. The muddled state of magnetic charm is reinforced by the significant and almost constant silence of the characters, as well as long plans of magically beautiful landscapes.
Medem, as in his past paintings, does not put dots over I, does not mix the meaning to the level of capital truths, but only hints that he knows something unknown to the viewer. But maybe he doesn't know any of those answers and just pretends to know. Even so, this manipulation of symbols and riddles is worth looking at at at least once. So that you can get serious and for a long time. After all, even without having a chance to get to the bottom of the author’s idea, you still look at every Medemov opus like a hypnotized person.