Sex and Lucia

Life and Death in Sex and Lucía  

Sex and Lucía is a story about the interconnectedness of life. Under the moon and off the coast of a remote island, two strangers make love. A sad novelist and an obsessed fan find comfort in each other. A lonely babysitter finds a father figure. Two women discover their sexual pasts are mysteriously connected. Everyone’s life intersects as a result of an ordinary yet profound longing.

Sexual life in Sex and Lucía is as beautiful as it is anguished. Desire elicits as much suffering as the ecstasy it promises. Julio Medem’s film opens with Lucía (Paz Vega) frantic to save her lover, Lorenzo (Tristán Ulloa). Finding a note after a desperate phone call, Lucía believes Lorenzo is dead. Lorenzo told Lucía many stories about a secluded Mediterranean island. Lucía flees there in hopes of discovering his secret about the island.

On the island, Lucía remembers the early days of their lovemaking.  Six years earlier, Lucía walked into a bar and announced to her favorite author she was moving in with him. He said she was brave and they drank the night away. In the story of Lorenzo and Lucía, their love is instant, playful and passionate. Lucía’s faith in Lorenzo’s genius begins an adventure for both of them. Lucía is no longer an orphan. Lorenzo is no longer a blocked writer. Romantic love seems to offer them a new life. In bed, Lucía will yell, “I’m dying! I’m dying!” Their wild and fearless lust for each other is truly innocent.    

Romantic love plants a false courage in the heart of Lorenzo. His new novel inspires him to search out the daughter he abandoned. Secretly visiting her at the playground, he develops a sordid flirtation with her babysitter, Belén. In the story of Lorenzo and Belén, erotic talk proves dangerous ground. Belén (Elena Anaya) tells Lorenzo stories of her mother’s former life as a porn star. She confesses to having fantasies about her mother’s lover. Lorenzo dares her to imagine the seduction. Belén becomes deeply attached to Lorenzo’s curiosity about her.

Lorenzo desperately wants to feel part of his daughter’s world. The sexual innuendo between Lorenzo and Belén allows him to feel he has crossed into that forbidden realm. Belén feels trapped in her mother’s home of repressed desire. Lorenzo and Belén share a fantasy that sexual transgression will free them from their shame. Lorenzo and Belén do not have sex but their close call one night leads to tragic consequences and his daughter, Luna is killed.     

The loss of Luna destroys the fantasy life between Lorenzo and Belén. Belén is devastated by Luna’s death and tries to kill herself. Lorenzo is tormented by images of Belén’s bleeding wrists. Lucía does not know about Belén or Luna and cannot understand Lorenzo’s depression. He tells her she loves a sick man and to give up on him. Plagued by guilt, Lorenzo begins to write online to Luna’s mother, Elena under the alias, the lighthouse keeper.

He writes to her,

I have a story for you, it’s full of advantages. The first advantage is at the end of the story. It doesn’t finish, it falls in a hole and the story starts again halfway. The other advantage, and the biggest, is that you can change course along the way…

Lucía goes to the island to mourn her life with Lorenzo. Elena goes to the island to recover from the loss of her daughter. On the island, Lucía and Elena become friends. Lucía and Elena figure out that Lorenzo is Luna’s father and the lighthouse keeper. The two women are torn by the revelation. Both women hold tight to the familiar. Elena sees Luna as belonging to only her. Lucía sees Lorenzo as someone she needs to protect. Both women cannot move forward without a new perspective about their past. In the story of Lucía and Elena, friendship calls for a kind of compassion they have not known before.

Lorenzo did not die that fateful night at the start of the film.  He fell into a coma. He wakes up and goes to the island to find Lucía. Upon his arrival, Elena recognizes him. Six years earlier, under the moon and off the coast of a remote island, two strangers made love. Elena called Lorenzo when she became pregnant but he did not return her call.  Lorenzo could not acknowledge Elena or be a real father to Luna. He dreamed he would one day have the courage. When Elena and Lorenzo meet again, it is a moment of grave forgiveness. Elena sees Lorenzo’s grief. He has lost a daughter too.  Lorenzo’s tears are meaningful to her and she is finally able to cry.  In the story of Lorenzo and Elena, they will always share Luna.    

Elena finds Lucía and reunites the two lovers. When Lucía sees Lorenzo, she stands in a trance and walks toward him. In Lucía’s trance, the ground becomes the bottom of the sea. She rocks back and forth and falls into his embrace. Lorenzo’s death—once certain--is rewritten.  Elena is moved by the miracle. She turns toward a photograph of her daughter and falls through a hole.

In Sex and Lucía, Medem explores the mystery of being alive in the sexual exploits of his characters. Sex is an expression of love. Sex is a descent into a secret life. Sex is a thread tying the past to the present. A one-night stand leads to a daughter. A haunting transgression leads to redemption. A shared lover leads to an unlikely friendship. In Sex and Lucía, sex is the portal between life and death, and life again. 

dir. Julio Medem

Spain, (Lucia y El Sexo), 2001