2011
China, France
Love and Bruises
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Once again, Lou Ye explores the painful relationship that leads to no happy ending, which can be seen in Summer Palace (2006) and Spring Fever (2009). Sex is the main theme of Love and Bruises, which sees how a couple getting together just to satisfy their sexual needs than emotional needs. The plot for Love and Bruises is similar to Summer Palace, except it is summarized in the backdrop of modern day Paris and Beijing with a twist in the plot. Paris, the present day. Wandering the streets in a daze after being dumped by her French boyfriend Thierry (Patrick Mille) whom she got to know in China, Hua (Corinne Yam), a 28-year-old student from Beijing, literally bumps into Mathieu (Tahar Rahim), 25, a construction worker. He helps her find a bank, and charms her into having dinner together; afterwards, he has rough sex with her in the street and the two then go to a hotel, where they make love till dawn. Hua moves out of the small flat of a Chinese friend (Shao Sifan) and into her own place, and meets Mathieu regularly for sex. She also gets to know his friends Eric (Vincent Rottiers) and Giovanni (Jalil Lespert), whom he sometimes helps out stealing and re-selling antiques. When Giovanni rapes her one day, Hua, suspecting she was set up by Mathieu, decides to break up with him; but when Mathieu threatens to commit suicide, she relents, and later visits him at his home in the suburbs. Mathieu, however, has a secret he hasn't told Hua — which further strains their relationship. Though she is hopelssly in love with Mathieu, Hua has to decide whether to stay with him in Paris or go back to her former life Beijing. |
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