Billed in its native Belgium as UNE LIAISON PORNOGRAPHIQUE (an appropriately matter-of-fact title, but misleading), AN AFFAIR OF LOVE is a he-said, she-said tale of an encounter between two Parisians who meet for the sole purpose of living out a shared sexual fantasy but soon find their... [More]

Billed in its native Belgium as UNE LIAISON PORNOGRAPHIQUE (an appropriately matter-of-fact title, but misleading), AN AFFAIR OF LOVE is a he-said, she-said tale of an encounter between two Parisians who meet for the sole purpose of living out a shared sexual fantasy but soon find their attraction runs beyond kink. The two anonymous characters--known to each other and the audience only as "her" and "him"--are introduced talking separately to an off-camera interviewer, who poses probing questions about the nature of their relationship; the film then unfolds as a narrative, shifting constantly back to their post-relationship examinations. The real story, it turns out, lies somewhere between what actually happened and how it is remembered. Dissecting the gap between sex and romance, AN AFFAIR OF LOVE plays its cards close to the chest in revealing its characters, even while their confessions bring a deeper dimension to the story seen on-screen. Director Frederic Fonteyne understatedly plays with voyeurism and self-confession--touchstones of late-'90s media--and his intimate but unintrusive style adds to the tension. The actors (Nathalie Baye and Sergi Lopez) deliver polished performances, and although the film's narrow focus renders them almost as symbolic figures, the details keep them grounded in a more plausible reality. [Less]