Lucía y el sexo (2001)

Director:

Julio Medem

Writer:

Julio Medem (writer)

Release Date:

24 August 2001 (Spain)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Plot:

Various lives converge on an isolated island, all connected by an author whose novel has become inextricably entwined with his own life.

Plot Keywords:

Island | Writer | Waitress | Novel | Underwater Sex

Awards:

9 wins & 17 nominations

Cast

Paz Vega	...	Lucía
Tristán Ulloa	...	Lorenzo
Najwa Nimri	...	Elena
Daniel Freire	...	Carlos / Antonio
Elena Anaya	...	Belén
Silvia Llanos	...	Luna
Diana Suárez	...	Madre de Belén
Javier Cámara	...	Pepe
Juan Fernández	...	Jefe
Charo Zapardiel	...	Comadrona
María Álvarez	...	Enfermera (as María Alvarez)
Javier Coromina	...	Camarero Chiringuito (as Javier Corominas)
Arsenio León	...	Futbolista
Alesandra Alvarez	...	Luna 1 año
David Bulnes	...	Actor porno

Also Known As:

Sex and Lucia (International: English title) (UK) (USA)
Lucia et le sexe (France)

MPAA:

Rated R for strong sexual content and language. (edited version)

Runtime:

128 min

Country:

Spain | France

Language:

Spanish | English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Canada:16+ (Quebec) | Canada:18 (Nova Scotia) | Canada:R (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba/Ontario) | Portugal:M/16 | Italy:VM14 (re-rating) (2005) | Italy:VM18 (original rating) | USA:TV-MA (TV rating) | Argentina:16 | Australia:R | Finland:K-15 | France:-12 | Germany:16 | Hong Kong:III | Netherlands:16 | New Zealand:R18 | Norway:15 | Peru:18 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | Switzerland:16 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:16 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:16 (canton of Zurich) | UK:18 | USA:R (cut) | South Korea:18

Filming Locations:

Formentera, Balearic Islands, Spain

Company:

Alicia Produce

Trivia:

Some of the most sexual explicit content was made by doubles, not by the main actors.

Quotes:

Carlos: This really isn't an island.
Lucía: It isn't?
Carlos: It's a giant lid. A floating piece of earth. Like a raft.
Lucía: But it isn't moving.
Carlos: People get dizzy here during high tide. And no one knows why.
Lucía: Except you.
Carlos: I've dived underneath the whole island. It's totally hollow. Thousands of caves, but nothing else. Not a single rock connects it to the sea floor.

Movie Connections:

References Tom Jones (1963)

Soundtrack:

Un Rayo de Sol

Sex as motion engine of the soul

This movie in my view is not understandable without any notion of the 'soul', whose movements are made visible by magnificent underwater shots. The sexual scenery functions not only as entrance to the story; I think Medem really wanted to depict something like 'the ultimate sex' both as experience and as ultimate, divine ideal, something like Goethes 'eternal feminine.' As something to strive for, it can deeply affect our lives by giving it the splendour we need to keep it worthwhile, even if we fail. At the same time, it is also a power deep down, a dark shadow that haunts us. It's for us to see, to accept, and to decide: do we want to go to our island and unite the two, as Lucia does? In that case, we might see that in the end our stories come true as well, be it by breaking in in the middle.

The question I asked myself after watching the movie for the third time was: where exactly is this 'middle' of it? It seems to me that it's around the scene where Elena is walking through Madrid with Luna in her baby carriage, while passing the apartment of Lucia and Lorenzo. From then on, the decisions made by the novelist - like the shivery death of his child - are such that there is no way back. Lorenzo, Lucia and their relationship are too heavily shaken up. Both have to get into a new reality which can transform their personalities; to both, this means a form of dying and leaving their old personalities behind. They surely resist this, especially Lorenzo; but also he has to put himself at risk, following the demands of his 'blood', that is, of his sex, death and rebirth. And there the story takes over the initiative from the writer, who himself is thrown into it - in the middle, where he leaves his home and runs into his 'accident'. Exactly that scene is not shown - it's the hole in the middle, through which the old reality passes into the new.

For me, this movie is a small masterpiece, which shows how film and literature can work together, and how more powerful ideas about ourselves are then the circumstances we are put into. The 'form' of the persons is therefore changeable: like Lorenzo during the last Island episode has 'changed' into Carlos. As the 'transformed' Lorenzo turns up on the island, with his distress and his love for both Elena and Lucia, 'Carlos' is no longer necessary and the women can leave him behind. The fact that Elena is eventually able to weep, marks the acceptance of her loss, which 'naturally' returns her child to her from the middle of the picture again.