(1999)
4
Keith Phipps
Released outside the U.S. under the title Un Affaire Pornographique, both titles accurately reflect Frederic Fonteyene's third feature. In fact, it works best as an examination of the tension between the two. Tightly focused, Fonteyene doesn't waste a moment of screen time or a word of collaborator Philippe Blasband's subtle script, demanding careful attention at all times. Interviewing both lovers post-affair, the film makes the most of the slight but significant differences between their two versions, though on most points they agree, particularly on the most important. Having met to fulfill some mutual, unspecified (and presumably uncommon) kink, they realize how difficult it can be to give intimacy away and how equally difficult it can be to sustain it. Both Nathalie Baye and Sergi Lopez turn in terrific, bittersweet performances that match Fonteyene's understated direction. Having established an intense mood, he's able to convey meaning simply by the amount of time he holds the shot of a hotel door. Such feats make for a moving, memorable drama.
cast-crew for An Affair of Love on AllMovie
An Affair of Love (1999)