Love

"Love" is a 3D sexual melodrama with non-simulated sex scenes that challenges the viewer by playing with time and place, this baby could only come from Gaspar No�, the controversial French auteur behind "Irreversible" and "I Stand Alone." I am generally a fan of No�'s boundary-pushing tactics and "Love" is a noble experiment, but alas, it is a failed noble experiment.

Once an initial sexual smack-to-the-senses in the movie's first frame is out of the way, the story settles on Murphy (Karl Glusman), an American bumming around in Paris, and his ill-fated romance with Electra (Aomi Muyock), a French artist. Things are moving along nicely for the young couple, until Electra starts expressing interest in spicing up their sex life (which includes a rather awkward encounter with a transsexual).

Enter Omi (Klara Kristin), a comely young woman who moves in next door. The neighbors form a threesome (pun definitely intended) and seem to have a great time together, hanging out and such. The trio's bliss comes to an abrupt end, however, when Murphy accidentally knocks up Omi. Electra, understandably, does not take it well and disappears. The balance of "Love" follows Murphy trying in vain to locate Electra and recapture true love and happiness.

That's all well and good, but the problem with "Love" is that No�'s thesis is never clear, and all of the sex eventually proves a distraction. There are barely any secondary characters of note, so the film is almost entirely focused on Murphy wandering the streets of Paris, lamenting in voiceover about how his life sucks since he screwed up and lost Electra.

The main thrust of the story is ostensibly about Murphy's mission to find Electra, but a satisfactory conclusion (after a two hour-plus running time) is nowhere to be found. No� exhibits his fondness for jumping around with time and setting, but whereas that method was extremely effective in "Irreversible," here it amounts to nothing more than showboating. Once (or twice, or three times, you get the idea) you see the two main characters naked and screwing, where can a filmmaker go to unnerve the audience? Nowhere -- and that is sort of where the remainder of the film leads.

While "Love" is not obscene in the truest sense of the word, the film will undoubtedly be seen by some as nothing more than art-house porn. The three leads definitely deserve props for appearing so raw and naked onscreen, both figuratively and literally. This is even more astonishing given the fact that all three actors are relative newcomers to cinema (only Glusman has any substantial credits to his name). But kudos aside, No�'s film, while high on art, technique, and chutzpah, is also fatally bereft of feeling or engagement.