Sex And Lucía

Released 2001
Stars Paz Vega, Tristan Ulloa, Najwa Nimri, Daniel Freire, Elena Anaya, Silvia Llanos
Directed by Julio Medem

One of the characters in "Sex and Lucia" is writing a novel. Many of the things that happen in the novel have happened to him. Or he imagines they have, or will. Or they are all only in the novel. It is being read by one of the women who is a character in it. Meanwhile, the audience knows of connections between the characters that they themselves do not suspect. And then there are additional connections because the same actor plays two roles--one real, I guess, and the other ... well, real too, I guess.

To describe the plot is not possible in a limited space, and besides, I'm not sure I'm up to it. I doubt that anyone seeing this film will completely understand it after one viewing, but that doesn't mean you have to see it twice--it simply means that confusion is part of the effect.

Summary by Roger Ebert

SPOILER ALERT: Wow, this movie blew me away. The first half was a little slow at times, but the second half became very involving. There's a lot of nudity and sex throughout the entire movie, but I would look for something else if that's all you're interested in. It's a rather brilliant, difficult film that initially evokes "9 1/2 Weeks" but actually has more similarities to the great films Mulholland Drive and Adaptation. For the first hour I thought it was going to be a sexy character study that would end in tragedy, but then it went off in completely different directions. To be sure, there are some incredibly sexy scenes, and my favorite was when Belen masturbated with a dildo while watching her porno actress mother on tv. That may sound disturbing, but it's actually one of the hottest scene I can remember in a mainstream film. Unfortunately, this character leads to the tragedy in the film, and I had lost all of those titillating feelings by the end.

The intention of the movie is to be confusing and to allow each person to interpret it as they see fit, but I didn't realize that until the final scene. I thought I had everything straight as far as what was real vs fiction until the final scene, which left me in a bit of a stupor. After a lot of reflection, I chose to believe pretty much everything in the story was fictional. I don't believe the little girl ever existed, which lets me avoid thinking about her being torn apart by a big dog. That's a bonus, but it also makes sense. There were many references to going back to the middle of the story and choosing alternatives, and I think that's what we were watching. The final scene was overexposed and looked dreamlike as Lucía watched Lorenzo typing away at his story. I think that was to let us know director Julio Medem had been messing with us and that the story was occurring on Lorenzo's computer as he explored the possibilities of his birthday tryst resulting in a child. That's how I saw it. How about you? --Bill Alward, December 18, 2004