Romance 1999 Movie Wiki
Principal photography took place from March to June 1999 on location in New York City, specifically in the Brooklyn Heights neighborhood and at Columbia University. Cinematographer Darius Khondji shot the film in warm, saturated tones to contrast the melancholic 1970s flashbacks with the crisp, amber-hued present day. The costume designer, Ann Roth, used period-specific details to delineate the two eras.
Unlike traditional Hollywood rom-coms, Romance (1999) offers a raw, intellectual exploration of female desire. The plot follows Marie (Caroline Ducey), a young schoolteacher living in Paris. She is in a dead-end relationship with a handsome but emotionally vacant male model named Paul (Sagamore Stévenin). Paul refuses to have sex with Marie, claiming he no longer finds sex meaningful, yet he refuses to leave her.
Desperate for intimacy and validation, Marie embarks on a parallel journey:
Spoiler Warning: The film ends with Marie suffocating the emotionally abusive Paul with a gas pipe, then calmly breastfeeding her newborn. She whispers a voiceover about love and pain being inseparable. It is not a happy ending, but a philosophical one. romance 1999 movie wiki
Marie narrates the film like a diary, quoting psychoanalysis and feminist theory. Scenes of explicit sex are intercut with monologues about the impossibility of true connection. It’s as if Simone de Beauvoir wrote a porn script.
Romance polarized critics upon release.
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a 53% approval rating based on 30 reviews, with an average rating of 5.6/10. On Metacritic, it has a score of 43/100, indicating "mixed or average reviews." Principal photography took place from March to June
When Romance premiered at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival, it divided critics instantly.
In France, it received a “-16” rating (restricted to over-16s). In the US, it was initially released unrated, then later given an NC-17. Several theaters refused to screen it.
Director: Neil Jordan | Studio: Columbia Pictures Spoiler Warning: The film ends with Marie suffocating
Based on Graham Greene’s novel, this is a devastating romance set during and after World War II. Ralph Fiennes plays Maurice Bendrix, a writer who begins an affair with Sarah Miles (Julianne Moore), the wife of a dull civil servant. When a bomb blast nearly kills Maurice, Sarah makes a desperate deal with God: she will end the affair if Maurice’s life is spared. The rest of the film follows Maurice’s obsessive, jealous investigation into why she left him, eventually uncovering a miracle.
Romance as Religious Experience: This film is for those who believe love is a form of suffering. Julianne Moore won the National Board of Review Award for Best Actress, and the film was nominated for two Academy Awards (Best Actress, Best Cinematography).