Sex and Lucía

A Spanish film built on layers of narrative. Lucía works as a waitress in Madrid. Her partner Lorenzo is a writer and one day he disappears; she believes he is dead. Lucía goes to an island. He had told her about it years before. She takes a room at a guest house and meets two people there. Then the narrative turns back and Lorenzo's story opens: a relationship years ago, a child he did not know about and the events that turn around that child. The idea is that Lorenzo has folded the novel he is writing into his own life, and the viewer cannot separate one from the other. At one point the narrative rewinds and a scene we have already seen goes differently. Visually the island sections are very bright: white walls, excessive light and sea. The Madrid sections are dark. Paz Vega plays Lucía and Tristán Ulloa plays Lorenzo. Elena Anaya is in the cast. Julio Medem directed. An original production for anyone who likes Spanish cinema and games with narrative. Before you watch, know this: the film contains explicit sexual scenes and the plot is deliberately complicated.