An Affair of Love

The original french title was more provocative: ”Une Liaison Pornographique.” But An Affair of Love is just as appropriate a title for this disconcertingly intimate recounting of the relationship between a nameless man (López from ”Western”) and woman (”The Return of Martin Guerre”’s Baye). The two enter a hotel room as strangers on an anonymous sexual adventure, but they exit as lovers who have misread each other tragically and pathetically.

Now, this being a quintessentially French film (even if director Frédéric Fonteyne is Belgian born and López is Spanish), monsieur and madame talk and analyze an awful lot — even during the film’s most erotic scene. But at least the talk isn’t cheap: By alternating what He says to an unseen interviewer with what She says and what the neutral camera shows, Fonteyne edges closer than most to capturing the mysterious rhythms of liaisons — pornographique, romantique, and otherwise.