Une Liaison Pornographique

Presented in that already dated pseudo-documentary style, wherein interviews give rise to unreliable flashbacks, this teasing adult movie purports to dissect a relationship between two apparently respectable, middle-aged Parisians who share a very peculiar fetish. He (López) responds to a lonely hearts ad that she (Baye) placed in the paper, or was it on the Internet? Their stories differ. Both well satisfied by the anonymous tryst, they resolve to meet weekly, and repair to a modest hotel room. What started as a purely physical attraction imperceptibly shifts into an emotional and spiritual realm. But the persistent documentary-maker probes - what about the sex? An elegantly droll romance, this feels rather like a belated riposte to Last Tango in Paris. The mise-en-scène is beautifully modulated, a pitch-perfect exercise in imbuing emotional resonance through composition, cutting and camera movement, while Baye and the soulful López instil their roles with a tender sense of possibility cherished and resigned.