Love and Sex

Director: Valerie Breiman
Screenwriters: Valerie Breiman

Institute History

  • 2000 Sundance Film Festival

Description

A romantic fable that is as free spirited, as it is funny, Love and Sex explores the trials and tribulations of finding love in the precarious modern-day dating troughs. A refreshing twist on the traditional "boy meets girl" trajectory, the film maps the beginning, middle, and undeterminable ending of a nineties-style romance. Distinguishing Love and Sex is Valerie Breiman's impeccable timing and the incredible charisma of her winning cast. Natural comedienne Famke Janssen and her uproarious costar, Jon Favreau, are superb as the star-crossed lovers, achieving that rare, ingenuous chemistry that makes for magic onscreen.

Beautiful young journalist Kate Welles is frustrated with t he puff pieces her editor always assigns her. She is also deflated by being left on the doorstep of a lengthy live-in relationship with lover number thirteen, Adam. Fancying herself somewhat of an expert on the archetypal love/sex differentiation, she relishes an opportunity t o write an article about the subject. But as her preparations lead her to reflect on some of her more ill fated encounters (from the high-school Lolitaphile, Gerard, to the ardent but unexpectedly married Eric, to Adam, her beloved artiste terrible), Kate begins to question some of her choices and apparent inability to commit long-term.

With animated insight, Breiman illuminates Kate's frighteningly familiar navigation of "the relationship": from jittery onset to the stymied patterns that set in and suffocate. With the pacing of a classic screwball comedy and quick-writted repartee, love and Sex is a sparkling fusion of comedy, charm, and irrepressible romance.

— Rebecca Yeldha

Screening Details

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