‘Affair’ Contrasts the Unknown Versus Carnal Knowledge

What could be more radiant than the image of a beautiful woman, smiling as she strides down a Paris boulevard? It’s a secret kind of smile, and no one is better at those than lovely and accomplished Nathalie Baye, who has one of the best of her many fine roles in Frederic Fonteyne’s “An Affair of Love,” a film as romantic as its title. It’s more appropriate to the spirit of the film, written by Philippe Blasband, than the more provocative French original, “Une Liaison Pornographique.”

That title comes from Baye’s unnamed heroine as she speaks to an unseen interrogator, presumably a therapist. “It was a pornographic affair: It was sex, nothing but sex, only sex,” she begins, saying how she made contact with a man via the Internet. As she begins her story we cut to the man (Sergi Lopez), who is also speaking to someone who remains off screen, to whom he starts telling the story from his perspective.

Neither the man nor the woman has ever done this before, and when they meet, in a Paris cafe, they exchange neither names, phone numbers nor addresses and never disclose anything about their lives to each other--or to us. She is poised and elegant; he is a stocky teddy bear of a man, a dark-haired Spaniard, boyish-looking but, as the woman observes, handsome when he smiles.

They are an attractive couple and sufficiently mutually attracted to head for the nearby hotel room that the woman has reserved in advance. The woman is the more confident and forward of the two, but the man, who has a sweet shyness, responds rapidly enough.

Soon they are having weekly or sometimes twice-weekly trysts in the same hotel, a small, well-maintained establishment not far from the Eiffel Tower with plushy blood-red hallways and a well-upholstered boudoir, done with flocked wallpaper in intense turquoise. The decor spells sin boldly, and the couple are swiftly engaged in a torrid affair, the most intense either has ever experienced.

In time we do see them together in bed, but from a discreet perspective; neither is prepared to discuss their affair clinically with their unseen interrogator. The inevitable question is: How long will they be able to pursue such an intense passion without falling in love? And if love should flower, how will they deal with it?

The film is much concerned with the whole notion of the unknown, of how little we can know of ourselves and of each other. The question then becomes the leap of faith love requires, but which not everyone is prepared to make.

Baye, whose luminous performance took the best actress prize at Venice last year, and Lopez, so memorable as the wistful traveling salesman of Manuel Poirier’s “Western” and seen in the current “The New Eve,” give portrayals that attest to the power of understatement. You could imagine, for example, Julia Roberts and Richard Gere in a Hollywood remake, but there’s a hitch: “An Affair of Love” is truly adult, straight to the finish. It’s hard to imagine an American version that would go the distance without compromise.

* MPAA rating: R, for strong sexual content. Times guidelines: some brief nudity, some lovemaking, adult themes and situations.

‘An Affair of Love’

(Une Liaison Pornographique)

Nathalie Baye: Her

Sergi Lopez: Him

Paul Pavel: M. Lignaux

Sylvie Van den Elsen: Mme. Lignaux

A Fine Line Features presentation. Director Frederic Fonteyne. Producer Patrick Quinet. Screenplay by Philippe Blasband. Cinematographer Virginie Saint-Martin. Editor Veronique Sacrez. Music Jeannot Sanavia, Andre Dziezuk, Marc Mergen. Costumes Anne Schotte. Production designer Veronique Sacrez. In French, with English subtitles. Running time: 1 hour, 40 minutes.

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