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Sex and Lucia

Generally favorable reviews
Based on 28 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 27 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Foreign
Written by: Julio Medem
Directed by: Julio Medem
Release Date:
Theatrical: July 12, 2002
DVD: March 25, 2003
Running Time: 128 minutes, Color
Origin: France / Spain
Summary
RATING: Not Rated
Starring Paz Vega, Tristán Ulloa, Najwa Nimri, Daniel Freire, Javier Cámara, and Elena Anaya
Lucia is a young waitress in Madrid. After the loss of her long-time boyfriend, a writer, she seeks refuge on a quiet, secluded Mediterranean island, where she begins to discover the dark corners of her past relationship. (Palm Pictures)
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database Official Studio Site Official Spanish Site Official U.K. Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Film Threat Tim Merrill
Medem's astonishing, magical-realist love story Sex and Lucía is easily the best Spanish film since "All About My Mother." But such a statement actually undersells the beauty of what Medem has created, which in many ways rather defies description.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan
It's still pretty darn good, despite its smarty-pants aura.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader Hank Sartin
This film by Julio Medem has dreamlike visuals, lush sensuality, a gorgeous cast, and a plot built on elaborate, self-conscious coincidences.
Read Full Review >LA Weekly Paul Malcolm
Climaxes in a flood of revelations that, like so much of the film, take us where we least expect to go.
Read Full Review >Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
Elegant and sometimes inscrutable.
New Times (L.A.) Andy Klein
Fans of convoluted narrative in the manner of Christopher Nolan and David Lynch are likely to be intrigued, although Medem has a far stronger streak of sentiment.
Time Richard Schickel
These people are fools for heedless love and, perhaps, needless complication, and you can't help responding to the heat of their passion.
Read Full Review >Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman
Anyone familiar with the movies of Julio Medem knows where "Sex and Lucia" is going. Or, rather, knows that it's impossible to know.
Read Full Review >Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker
With the story's vivid and passionate women and the power of emotional healing (not to mention the intense eroticism of his hothouse romance), gives Sex and Lucia a dynamic, vigorous life.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey
Whatever you say about Sex and Lucía, you have to admit that it takes place at a hormonal high tide that never ebbs.
Read Full Review >Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach
At times, Sex and Lucia is too precious for its own good; a movie that demands its own flow chart isn't always a good thing. And events turn on one coincidence too many. But Medem's exquisite craftsmanship and full-throttle eroticism make his film a morass worth the attempt to unravel.
Portland Oregonian Kim Morgan
The film is tangled but not chaotic, thoughtful but not terribly deep. Still, it's intimate, entertaining, and most impressive, genuine.
Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
The parts work even if the whole leaves me uncertain. Many movies are certain about their whole, but are made of careless parts. Forced to choose, I would take the parts.
Read Full Review >Miami Herald Marta Barber
Medem may have disrobed most of the cast, leaving their bodies exposed, but the plot remains as guarded as a virgin with a chastity belt. That's why Sex and Lucía is so alluring.
Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington
The movie is a journey into a land of wonders beneath the surface of consciousness -- but it's also a sexual ride of unabated heat. You may be confused by Sex and Lucia, but you won't be unmoved.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Maitland McDonagh
Medem's stupendously gorgeous puzzle movie features strong performances from its four leads.
Read Full Review >Variety Jonathan Holland
A slickly made, intense and powerfully visual take on time-honored problems such as identity and the body's power over the mind.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan
Medem is one of the few directors who understands sensuality and knows how to make it happen on screen. Sex and Lucia specializes in pleasant eroticism, using nudity, Koko de la Rica's dreamy cinematography and Alberto Iglesias' Goya-winning score to create episodes of voluptuous lovemaking.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
A truly titillating and truly convoluted tale of l'amour fou. Perhaps the American remake could be titled ''Hot Fudge Ripple Sky.''
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Kimberley Jones
Medem's film is a bleached-out beauty, hitting our most commanding human emotions -- lust to love to grief to rage and back again -- while only occasionally striking a wrong chord.
Read Full Review >New York Post Jonathan Foreman
If you're starved for on-screen nudity and sex garnished with art-film trappings -- The price you'll pay is putting up with the director's relentless Euro-pretension, manifested in a tediously contrived plot crammed with absurd coincidences, clunky symbolism and soap-operatic melodrama.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias
Medem turns screenwriting into a feng shui exercise, shifting story elements like pieces of furniture around a room, as if the best films are the ones that end up facing southeast.
Read Full Review >The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen
Nothing in this explicit display is remotely engaging. That's because the sex is a metaphor here. In fact, most everything is a metaphor here. Or a symbol -- the picture is a veritable cacophony of jangling symbols.
Read Full Review >The New York Times A.O. Scott
Both refreshing and confusing, the film equivalent of an ice cream headache.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Ty Burr
Isn't a first-date movie. As a third -date movie, though, it's just about perfect.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Jami Bernard
The sensuous visuals, shot in high-definition video, complement the waking-dream quality of a sometimes confusing story.
Village Voice Michael Atkinson
An adept mood maker, Medem strains madly for cosmic alliances, fairy-tale imagery, and fated coincidences, but he triumphs only with two hot bodies, a cluttered apartment, and a Shower Massage.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 7.1 (out of 10) based on 27 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
susangrinker gave it a10:
Was one of the top 10 audience favorites at the Seattle Film festival. I liked it so much that I saw it all three times it played!!!
F. Valeron gave it a10:
Lucia y el Sexo is quite possibly one of the greatest films we're all ever going to get to see. It's so rare for a film to magically engage every sense simultaneously, and, it seems to me, the films that manage this are increasingly coming from Spain and South America. This one is a masterpiece.
Gavin D. gave it a10:
A fabulous love story which picks you up and takes you to heaven. You can watch this movie five times and still love its complex passionate heart. One of my desert island movies.
ANDREW M. gave it an 8:
Medem is an extraordinary filmmaker. The photography in this film is exquisite, there is simply no other word for it. I differ with those people who have commented on the supposed "poor cinematography" - whether you get anything out of the story or not shouldn't detract from the gorgeous look and aesthetic feel of this film. It's also one of the most sensual films I have ever seen. Again, credit Medem. His work with the actors, the script, the production, transforms Sex And Lucia into pure cinema-viagra! And Paz Vega in the leading role is dynamite. What a stunning and beautiful creature! She oozes sensuality and is arresting to watch. As for the plot, I got lost quite easily....but I didn't care much....if I'm gonna be lost, let it be in a paradise like this.
[Anonymous] gave it a 10:
Excellent. emotional with breath taking scenes. rarely is there a movie with this much beauty.
[Anonymous] gave it a 3:
I stopped watching after Belen was in the hospital. I just did not care about any of the characters.
[Anonymous] gave it a 10:
Because that movie is perfect!
