Sex Is Comedy
2002 film by Catherine Breillat
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sex Is Comedy is a 2002 comedy-drama film written and directed by Catherine Breillat.[1] It revolves around a director (Anne Parillaud) and her troubles filming an intimate sex scene between two actors who cannot tolerate each other.
- Anne Parillaud
- Grégoire Colin
- Roxane Mesquida
- Ashley Wanniger
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| Directed by | Catherine Breillat |
| Written by | Catherine Breillat |
| Produced by | Jean-François Lepetit |
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| Cinematography | Laurent Machuel |
| Edited by | Pascale Chavance |
Production companies |
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| Distributed by | Rézo Films |
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Running time | 95 minutes |
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Based on Breillat's experiences directing her 2001 film Fat Girl, the climax of the film features a recreation of a scene from that film, shot from the point of view of the crew, with Roxane Mesquida essentially reprising her role from the first film.[citation needed]
Cast
- Anne Parillaud as Jeanne
- Grégoire Colin as the actor
- Roxane Mesquida as the actress
- Ashley Wanniger as Léo
Reception
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 68% based on reviews from 47 critics, with an average rating of 6.3/10.[2] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 63 out of 100, based on 24 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[3]
Nev Pierce of BBC praised the direction by Catherine Breillat, writing "[She] does effectively capture the 'hurry up and wait' atmosphere of a film set, and draws excellent performances from all involved".[4]
Ed Gonzalez of Slant Magazine called the film an "ego trip",[5] while Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times said that the film is not sure "what it's really about, or how to get there", giving it 2 and a half stars out of 4.[6]
According to John Anderson of the Chicago Tribune "It may be impossible ever to watch a sex scene again after seeing Catherine Breillat's Sex Is Comedy. And that may precisely be the point".[7]
In a review for The A.V. Club, Scott Tobias wrote, "Sex Is Comedy triumphs mostly in laying out the specific mechanics of a love scene",[8] while Ruthe Stein of San Francisco Chronicle criticized the film for being "[a]nnoying, soporific and, despite its title, singularly humorless".[9]
